


Animal Magnetism

by MeganRachel09



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Bella Swan with a Backbone, Bella has friends in Phoenix, Edward is less of a stalker, Edward is slightly less of a mopey anxiety boy, F/M, Love triangles don't live here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:33:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 114,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24971614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRachel09/pseuds/MeganRachel09
Summary: Edward Cullen was not a normal teenager; of that I was certain. But knowing that did nothing to stop the pull I felt towards him. And if what he was saying was any indication, he felt some strange pull towards me, too. It was as if we were magnets struggling against hope to stay apart. I only wondered what would happen when we inevitably collided.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Comments: 141
Kudos: 155





	1. Intro. - Forks.

I had never given much thought to love, at least not as far as it pertained to me. My parents married young, caught up in the rush of hormones and complacency that accompanied a long-term high school romance in a small town. I was born less than a year after they got married. They didn't even make it to their second wedding anniversary; shortly after my first birthday, my mother Renee took me and fled.  
  
It wasn't my father Charlie she was running from, but the dreariness, the boredom that defined Forks, Washington. Charlie was a good man, a good husband, and a good father. He was the youngest and most promising sheriff's deputy on the force and he liked to hike and go fishing when he wasn't working, and he ate at the same small diner several times a week.  
  
Charlie was unfailingly good and unfalteringly loyal, but whatever she felt for him just wasn't enough incentive for Renee to stay in the tiresome town in which he was so content. It was either cold or rainy, or an even more miserable combination of the two almost every day of the year. There was almost no sunshine in Forks, which explained why Renee tended to gravitate to sunny cities.  
  
We moved every few years; Renee just couldn't settle down. By the time I was ten, I had called Reno, Fresno, and Jacksonville home. It seemed like every time we started to make a place a real home, that same creeping feeling of being entrapped would overtake her and she would pack me up and move along.  
  
It was clear that Renee loved Charlie; what other possible explanation was there for why she never sought another man? She just didn't love him enough. He was a police deputy when I was a kid, and quickly rose through the ranks until he managed to snag Chief of Police. He was calm and quiet and steady, and he was reliable if not always very warm.  
  
He would call a few times a week and we would sit through a painfully awkward, incredibly quiet thirty minutes. Charlie was a man of few words, and I was his daughter, after all. Sometimes, speaking just wasn't my strong suit either. I would spend a few weeks with him every summer, but that was the extent of my time with him. He was a decent father, at least as decent as he could be in the limited time we had together.  
  
Until my thirteenth birthday. Renee and I moved to Phoenix, Arizona just a few months before my birthday and Charlie, quite uncharacteristically, decided to start using his annual time off on one long trip to Phoenix during the summers when he realized I didn't want to be with him in Forks. It was weird, but also kind of awesome. When Charlie was around, it was like we were a real family, if only for the few weeks we were all together.  
  
When I was fifteen, I realized that my parents weren't just getting along better and keeping in touch for my sake anymore. They were actually just getting back together. I didn't expect it to be as nice as it was to have a mom and dad who actually loved each other, but it was really cool to get to at least be somewhat of a normal family.  
  
Renee was never one to hold back a laugh, or to stifle her enthusiasm for life but with Charlie around, the light in her eyes intensified, looked more like legitimate happiness. Charlie, for his part, actually smiled when we were all together, and laughed, and spoke however haltingly about his feelings. Perhaps the best part, though, was that I didn't have to go to spend my summers in Forks anymore. I got to spend all of my time in Phoenix with my friends and my parents.  
  
Until I didn't.  
  
Just a few days after my seventeenth birthday, my parents sat me down at the kitchen table and told me that they were ready to really be together again, to be married, for the three of us to be a real family full-time.  
  
Renee worked from home most of the time, running a relatively successful blog where she wrote about art and displayed some of her own paintings and pottery. On occasion, she would offer lessons, but her main income was from her blog which kept her from being stuck in any one place for too long. Charlie, on the other hand, had a whole life in Forks and a lot of responsibilities there, which meant that Renee and I would have to transplant ourselves right back to where we started.  
  
Barely a week after they told me we were leaving, the lease on our apartment was broken and everything was packed and loaded in a trailer to be hauled to my father's small two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Forks.  
  
Fittingly, it was raining when I said goodbye to my friends in Phoenix.  
  
I didn't speak to Charlie and Renee the entire drive to Forks; I was too stubborn, too upset, too heartbroken. I couldn't understand how Renee could do this to me, how she could pull me from the one place that had finally started to feel like home and force me back to the stifling, wet, cold place she had fled so many years before.  
  
It was just two years. All I had to do was grit my teeth and bear it. It didn't matter that I was starting a new school in a new state just a couple months into my junior year. It didn't. I wouldn't put down any roots. I didn't have to make friends in Forks; I had gone almost thirteen years without making any real friends. I would just keep in touch with my friends in Phoenix and then go back after graduation no matter what Renee and Charlie wanted.  
  
Then I met him. He was terrifying and beautiful, kind and cruel, ingratiating and aggravating, hot and cold. Part of me wanted to stay away from him, but I just couldn't.  
  
I found myself at somewhat of an impasse. I could either play off my inquisitiveness as just that – mere curiosity – or I could admit, if only to myself, that there was something more at play, something drawing me in. It was as if he was a magnet and I was a lump of iron, impossibly attracted and incapable of resisting his pull.  
  
No, I had never given much thought to my own love life, but then, wasn't it often said that the right thing comes along when you least expect it? Well, I certainly didn't expect it here.  
  
I found friendship and, above all, love in the most unlikely of places, the most unlikely of creatures.  
  
It was in this ever-green city that everything I had heard in myths and legends really came to life for me. I learned that the very creatures of legend that people feared but never really believed in truly did exist and were living among us. But they weren't as scary, as dangerous, as legend told. Or were they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it, even though this is my least favorite chapter (I'm no good at intros, but SMeyer wrote one, so I wrote one). I hope you'll take my word for it that it gets much better from here, and I hope my word is truth.
> 
> This story is completely written, though all of the subsequent content is still in rough draft form. There are 20ish chapters around 4,000 words each (some rather longer) plus this intro and a very long epilogue. I will be posting a new chapter every Sunday afternoon.
> 
> Now, for the rambling!
> 
> I recently decided to reread the Twilight series after Stephenie Meyer announced the release date for Midnight Sun, and I remembered how much I actually enjoyed the books. There are some undeniably problematic themes, of course, but overall I still really enjoyed the story.
> 
> I haven't written Twilight fanfiction in at least ten years, and I deleted all of it when I started writing Harry Potter fic because it was all really bad. See: the one truly awful oneshot I left up here for giggles, if you dare. It's called Getting Even and I can't even get past the first line without nopeing right out of it.
> 
> But here I am with a brand new fanfic, and I assure you it's not nearly as bad as my old stuff. It follows the plot of the original book pretty closely in the beginning, and some of the dialogue is borrowed from the book, but there will be some small differences that vastly change the story:
> 
> Charlie and Renee's relationship is very different, obviously, and I decided to give Bella actual friends back in Phoenix.
> 
> I put a lot of effort into making Bella less of a Mary Sue, but I must admit that's one of my struggles as a writer as well, so I'm not sure how well I did. I'm concerned that I may have only succeeded in making her a Mary Sue who bites back a little harder.
> 
> Jacob is present in this story, as a bit less of a background character than in Twilight, but much less of a foreground character than in any of the subsequent books. He is not a romantic rival for Edward, though he does want to be. One thing I can't stand is a love triangle, so there will be absolutely none of that here.
> 
> Also, I hope you find my Edward to be far less of a stalker, although the sangue cantante bit remains.
> 
> And I think that's all for now! Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you stick around for the next chapter next Sunday afternoon!
> 
> _Ch1. Shiny New Girl._
> 
> _Jessica liked Mike. It was obvious in the way she forced a nervous chuckle and then watched carefully for my reaction. Hopeful, like she wanted me to reassure her that I didn't have any interest in Mike Newton. Wary, like she was worried I would start raving about the boy she wanted._
> 
> _I just frowned and shook my head. "Boys."_
> 
> _"Boys," she agreed, rolling her eyes._


	2. Chapter 1. Shiny New Girl.

I sat up in bed and looked around my new-old room, the white comforter bunched up around my waist. Once upon a time, this had been my nursery. Of course the walls, painted a light lilac color, were dark in the dingy grey light streaming through the window. No surprise, it was raining outside.

I had been in this city for all of two days and already more rain had fallen than I had seen in my entire time down in Phoenix. Rain wasn’t a bad thing in small, reasonable doses. But nonstop it was suffocating. I just had to remind myself to take deep breaths and everything would be fine. I closed my eyes and let the cool air fill my lungs before I forcefully blew it back out.

“Bella, honey, you have to come down soon or you’ll be late for school!” Renee’s voice drifted in through my locked bedroom door and I flopped back down against my pillow, and threw my arm over my eyes in an attempt to ignore her. “Bella, get up.”

I forced a cough just loud enough for her to hear me through the door. “I’m not feeling too well. I think the climate here doesn’t really agree with me. Maybe I should just move back to Phoenix. You and Dad are more than welcome to stay here, though.”

Renee was silent for a moment and I could just imagine her guilty expression. She knew how I felt about this move and for the past few days, I had been playing heavily on her guilty conscience. It wasn’t my normal go-to, but I figured if there was a chance it might work, then it was worth trying.

Suddenly, my door swung open – I guessed Charlie had a key to every door in this house laying around somewhere – and Renee was standing there, her expression no longer guilty; now she was annoyed.

“Get out of bed right now,” Renee exclaimed, standing there in the doorway. I could feel my eyes widen in surprise as she yelled at me. “I have spent the past sixteen years of my life alone and I am just trying to fix some of my biggest mistakes. I am sorry that you had to leave your friends behind, but I am tired of doing everything by myself. The least you can do – really, honestly, the bare minimum – is get up and get dressed for school!”

I didn’t think it was particularly fair of her to imply that she had been working alone all this time. She had my help, and we were always such a good team.

“I _am_ happy that you and Dad are back together,” I said in a very small voice. “But Forks? Why couldn’t Dad move in with us? Mom, don’t you miss the sun?”

 _God_ , I missed the sun.

“Bella, I _am_ sorry that we had to uproot you from Phoenix, but your father has an established career here. He’s the Police Chief, for God’s sake! He couldn’t just walk away from that and start over somewhere else. He needs to be here.” Renee’s voice softened as she spoke and tenderness filled her eyes as she sat on the edge of my bed. “And we need to be here with him. I’m sorry, honey, but you’re going to school here.”

“Maybe you need to be here with him, but I don’t,” I grumbled. Renee’s face tightened and some of the tenderness left her as she guessed what my next statement would be. “Why can’t I just stay with one of my friends? Madison already offered, and I’ll come back for vacations…”

Renee stood from the bed, bringing my grumbling to an abrupt halt. The annoyance re-entered her expression. “If you aren’t out of that bed and getting ready for school in five minutes, Isabella Swan, I swear you will regret it.”

Less than an hour later, I found myself in the front seat of Renee’s car, my arms crossed over my chest as I glared out at the school in front of me. I didn’t understand why there were so many buildings when there were only a couple hundred students in attendance, all of whom seemed to be crowded under the awning right outside my window gawking at me.

“Oh, Bella, stop pouting,” Renee pleaded, but I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the car without responding and slammed the door behind me as I hitched my bag more firmly over my shoulder and trudged through the rain towards the office, praying I wouldn’t slip and fall.

I managed to reach the building without humiliating myself and, trying my hardest to ignore the curious looks I was getting from my new _peers_ , pulled open the door to the office and walked up to the front desk. The receptionist, a portly woman with a stiff red bob was on the phone and signaled for me to wait a minute, so I stood there patiently, drumming my fingers on the desk in front of me. I looked around, trying to gain my bearings and immediately regretted it as I locked eyes with more than one curious student milling around under the cover of the large awning that extended from the office towards the small courtyard; I supposed if not for my arrival, it would have been your typical morning here.

I started to turn away in avoidance of all this unwanted attention, but something caught my eye and held my attention outside of the office. There were five… people – students, I guessed, though I would have thought that impossible were it not for the book bags each of them was carrying – standing in the far corner, closest to edge of the awning. They all stood out from the rest of students around them.

Their skin was pale, paler than anyone else’s in this sunless hell-hole. They were all devastatingly beautiful and I let my eyes wander over each of them. The first one my gaze was drawn to was huge, a giant of a man. He looked more like a professional football player than a student. His curly hair was a dark brown. I’d never thought the word beautiful could possibly apply to a man so large and brawny, but he certainly was.

Standing next to him in a clearly possessive fashion was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her thick blond hair cascaded down her shoulders, curling inward at the ends. She stood only an inch or so shorter than her football player counterpart. One word came to mind as I studied her: confidence. She was the type of woman who knew how gorgeous she was, and owned it.

Next was a tall blond-haired man. He was muscular, but nowhere near as built as the first guy, and taller. He looked like the most reserved of the group, eyes angled downward, sort of like he was nervous, but it seemed every muscle in his boy was tense, anticipating. Something about him just screamed danger, like at any given minute he may spring into action and lay waste to us all. He, of all his companions, seemed to want least to be here.

Next to him was a cute miniature person. Her hair was black as midnight, cropped short; it just reached her collarbone and spiked out in every direction. Out of all of them, she looked most comfortable standing there as she turned her head to speak to the blond boy, her lips moving so quickly I was sure I wouldn’t have caught a word she’d said if I were standing right next to her. The boy she spoke to didn’t even glance at her, but shook his head in response to whatever she said and I got the impression that he was rather bothered by her words. She watched him for a moment before turning to walk away from the group, her gait smooth and graceful and every bit the way a ballerina might move across a stage, until she suddenly froze, her gaze going blank as she stared ahead of her.

The blond boy moved quickly to her and placed a hand beneath her elbow to steer her back toward the group as the other couple continued to stare away from her, looking totally uninterested in whatever was going on with their friend. None of the other students milling around seemed to notice anything that these five were doing and they seemed to like it that way.

It seemed that whatever had happened was over already. Her lips were moving quickly again. None of her companions were looking at her, but I had the distinct impression they were all listening carefully. Confused, I turned to the fifth member of the strange group, surprised when my eyes met his dark ones. His bronze hair was disheveled, almost falling into his eyes, but it was too short to obscure them. He was tall and lanky, just barely taller than the blond boy, and much thinner, but it seemed to me that he was still very strong, just less obviously so than the other two boys. His tan sweater hugged his chest and biceps, straining just enough to hint at the musculature beneath. I forced my eyes back up to study his face more closely and was struck by the realization that he was absolutely stunning. All of the five were startlingly beautiful, but this boy’s good looks far surpassed the rest. Even the perfect blond girl was less stunning than he.

Suddenly, I realized that the eyes of each and every one of them were on me and I blushed, and dropped my gaze to the floor as I turned quickly to look at the receptionist, who had just hung up the phone.

“Can I help you, dear?” she asked, looking at me expectantly. I cleared my throat, still embarrassed to be caught staring, and nodded.

“Yes. I’m new here. I just need to get my schedule,” I said softly.

“Ah. You must be Isabella Swan,” the receptionist said. She picked up a piece of paper on her desk and studied it briefly.

“Bella. Yes,” I said, trying to reign in the flash of annoyance at the sound of my full name.

“Bella Swan,” she corrected herself, holding the paper out to me. “Here you go. This is your class scheduled and a map of the school. You should be able to find your way around, but if you need help, I’m sure any of your peers would be thrilled to show you around. I hope you have a good first day here at Forks High.”

I took the paper from her with a murmured thanks and a forced smile before I turned around. I immediately noticed that the mysterious group was still there, but only two of them were looking at me still: the beautiful boy with the bronze hair and the small, waif-like girl.

She looked apprehensive as she watched me push the door open and the boy looked frustrated, confused… and a bit pained. Though they looked casual, and all were staring off in different directions, I did notice that each of his companions had moved, surrounding him almost protectively. The two muscular boys were on either side of him, their backs to me, and the blond girl was standing directly in front of him, angled sideways with her shoulder almost touching his chest. Only the small pixie-like creature who was also watching me hadn’t moved from where she stood behind him. It almost looked like they were blocking him in, not protecting him, I realized. Protecting everyone else? From him? But that didn’t make any sense. He was just a boy. What could he possibly do?

I furrowed my eyebrows and forced myself to look away and almost ran right into an eager-looking boy with blond, spiky hair who was grinning down at me.

“Oh… hi,” I said, wondering why this boy was standing so near me.

“I’m Mike Newton. Are you new here?” he asked, sticking his hand in the limited space between our bodies as if for a handshake.

“Yes,” I said tersely, and just barely managed to avoid rolling my eyes. Of course I was new here. There were maybe four hundred students here across all four grades. Everyone probably already knew each other and, if they weren’t personal acquaintances they had to at least know of each other. “I’m Bella.”

As reluctant as I was to make a place for myself here, I couldn’t bring myself to be outright mean to anyone. I sighed and looked down at my schedule. English with Mr. Mason in building three. At least I wasn’t starting out with a terrible class.

“Can I help you find your first class?” Mike offered.

I stared at him for half a second, tempted to refuse – something in his eagerness made me uneasy and even if I wasn’t after making friends here, I had a feeling I wouldn’t want to encourage him. I did not, however, feel much like wandering, lost, in search of building three. It wasn’t a large school – nothing here was large except for the expansive forest and water on either edge of town – and I could read a map as well as the average person, but it seemed overall easier to accept this one small offer of assistance.

“Sure,” I said, making myself smile at him, a quick upward turn of my lips before I handed him my schedule. “Thanks.”

“No problem!” My new companion said cheerfully, taking the paper from me. “Okay, so building three is over this way!”

Frowning, I tried to listen to him as he rambled endlessly, but I couldn’t concentrate, frustrated as I was with myself. How was it that I had managed to get myself stuck with a guy who was basically an over-eager puppy dog leading me through the gloom of drizzle and soaking grass. Something told me I wasn’t going to find it very easy to avoid him as he turned his head to beam at me, still speaking, telling me about his own schedule. We had Government, Biology II, and Gym together, apparently.

“I could swing by after American History,” Mike offered as he opened the door to a building with a large numeric three painted in the corner. “Walk you to Government so you don’t get lost.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I think I can find it. You don’t need to go to the trouble,” I said, but his smile never faltered as he stopped in front of a classroom. Looking past him, I saw that the room number matched what was on my schedule, and the walls were plastered with literary quotes. It eased my worries, the familiarity of it all. Even here in small town, middle of rainy nowhere, an English class was still an English class.

“No worries!” Mike said, already backing away. I realized he was probably going to be late to his own class if he didn’t hurry, else he likely would have stuck around. “I’ll meet you outside.”

Before I could speak again, tell him I really didn’t think it was necessary, he turned and moved through the light trickle of students who hadn’t yet made it to class. I huffed out a breath and walked into class just as the second bell rang. Every single eye turned to me, then, all twelve – could classes here really be _that_ small? – students, and the teacher.

“You must be Isabella,” said the teacher, a tall, thin man with a rapidly receding hairline. The nameplate on his desk identified him as Mr. Mason.

“Bella,” I said softly, but nodded. He handed me a class syllabus, and smiled at me, trying to make me feel comfortable, probably, but I could see the curiosity in his gaze. Here I was Chief Swan’s mysterious daughter, not just any new student. Although, I couldn’t imagine Forks High regularly saw many new students.

When he ushered me to an empty desk in the back of the class without making me introduce myself, I felt the knot of anxiety, heavy in the pit of my stomach, loosen exponentially. Safe for an hour.

I studied the syllabus as Mr. Mason called the class’s attention to him and started to recap the last lesson: Bronte, Shakespeare, Faulkner, Chaucer… I had already read some of the titles listed and didn’t see anything I wasn’t already familiar with, at least on a basic level. The knot loosened a bit more. Maybe… _just_ _maybe_ it wouldn’t be so bad.

When the bell rang and everyone began gathering their books, I took my time, flattening my slightly rumpled class schedule and comparing it to the small, blurry school map I hadn’t had much time to study. Mike said he would meet me outside, but I didn’t want to rely on anyone overmuch. I walked slowly to the door, trailing behind the last couple of students.

“You’re Isabella, right? Chief Swan’s daughter?”

Looking up, I saw yet another helpful face, and almost grimaced. Two boys trying to help the poor distressed damsel in one hour? Maybe everyone here was just that friendly, I thought doubtfully.

“Bella,” I corrected.

“Bella,” he repeated, almost obediently. “I’m Eric. Eric Yorkie. Can I help you find your next class?”

“Um…” He looked nice enough – glasses, skin problems, hair nearly as dark as the girl with the spiky hair and graceful gait I had seen earlier. His limbs were long, too long for his body, as if he were still growing in quick, sporadic bursts, and he had a cheerful, helpful smile. He looked nothing like Mike Newton who was almost Nordic with his blond hair, blue eyes, and boyish features, but something in his smile reminded me of my first tour guide. “I don’t want to put you out, but you could point me in the right direction, I guess.”

He took my schedule from my hands, the paper slipping through my fingers quickly as he drank in the words. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he looked almost disappointed when he said that he was headed toward building four, but would be happy to show me the way to building six.

“Hey, Bella!”

Turning, I saw Mike rushing toward us. I tried to keep my face neutral when I saw the annoyed, almost dismayed look on Eric’s face when he saw Mike, but dread coursed through me.

“Hi,” I said when he caught up.

“What’s up, Mike?” Eric sounded almost dejected and I wondered if he thought Mike might have some sort of moronic claim on me now.

“Hey, man,” Mike said in a way that made me think that, while they may not be particularly close, these two boys were friends. He turned to me quickly, flashing that smile that only made me want to run away. “What’s up, Bella? I thought we were walking to Government together.”

“Oh, yeah, well… Eric was just pointing the way,” I said, internally cringing at the awkward moment.

“We have English together,” Eric said, almost boasting, immediately cheered by my less than enthusiastic reception of Mike.

“Building four is the other way,” Mike reminded Eric, who glared at him.

Oh yeah, these two were definitely some type of friends… perhaps friendly rivals… if Mike knew Eric’s schedule well enough to be able to _helpfully_ point out that he, Mike, could help me out much more conveniently.

I was at a loss for what to say as they continued to stare at each other. So, instead of saying anything, I just turned in the direction Eric had started to lead me, and walked away.

“Bye, Bella!” Eric called. “I’ll see you at lunch!”

Frowning, my back to him, I nodded. I heard Mike rushing to catch up to me, and found myself tuning him out as he started talking the moment he fell into step with me.

“Anyway, Eric’s nice and all, but he’s kind of weird, if you know what I mean,” Mike was saying as he led me into our Government class.

I had never been so eager to meet my teacher. I all but ran from Mike’s side and up to the sturdy desk in the front of the room to collect my syllabus from Mr. Jefferson. Once again, I wasn’t forced to introduce myself to the class, though Mr. Jefferson did loudly suggest I get someone’s notes so that I would be caught up for the test on Thursday. Immediately, Mike waved at me.

Once again, the only open desk was in the back of the classroom, several seats away from Mike Newton. With a sigh of relief, I angled my body away from him and began to doodle on my syllabus. When the bell rang at the end of the period, I was shocked – I had hardly noticed the passage of time, but my mindless art had shifted from mere doodles to a shockingly detailed, breathtakingly handsome face. I was no artist, really, not like Renee who made a living teaching, critiquing and occasionally creating art, but there was no mistaking the strong jaw, the messy hair, the intense gaze staring up at me.

Flustered, I hid the page away and shoved it to the bottom of my bookbag as I hurried to the door. How had I managed to draw him in such detail? I hadn’t spoken to him, hadn’t even seen him up close, but I knew, somehow, that down to the slight cleft of the chin, I had gotten every detail of the beautiful, bronze-haired boy I had seen for the briefest moment this morning.

This time, when Mike led me the short distance from building four to building five for my Trigonometry class, I was grateful for his incessant talking. It allowed me to ponder how, exactly, I had drawn him so clearly, and _why_. Mike left me at the door to the classroom, looking slightly put out. Apparently, he had noticed that I wasn’t paying attention to him. Feeling guilty, I smiled and thanked him for showing me the way. He perked up immediately and brushed off my thanks with a promise to see me at lunch.

“I’m headed back to building one, so I won’t be able to walk you to Spanish,” he said apologetically. “But it’s in building seven, right on the other side of the Government building.”

“Thanks, Mike,” I said again, waving as I headed into my class. “See you.”

Mr. Varner, the Trigonometry teacher, was not as kind as the rest of my teachers. He made me wait next to his desk until everyone arrived, then had me introduce myself to the class. Only once I had stammered my name did he show me to an empty desk, again in the back of the room.

I slid shakily into the chair and rested my overheated face in my shaky palms.

“Hey… Bella?” I lifted my face to see the girl next to me smiling at me not unkindly. She had wildly curly brown hair and the most obviously fake spray tan I had ever seen. Her teeth were straight, and bright white. “Don’t worry. Varner’s sadistic. He made us all go around the room and introduce ourselves on the first day. As if we don’t already know each other.”

I smiled tentatively. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but Mr. Varner called on her to solve a problem on the board. She frowned, and then gave me a look that clearly said, _See? Sadist,_ and walked confidently to the front of the class.

The knot in the pit of my stomach had tightened and about doubled in size, it felt, and had me trembling all over, but when my friendly neighbor smiled at me as she headed back to her seat, I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. It was just high school. No big deal.

She turned to me as soon as the bell rang. “I’m Jessica Stanley,” she said as we both shoved our books in our bags. “What’s your next class?”

“Spanish,” I said without consulting my schedule. I had it memorized by now. “Building seven with Mrs. Goff.”

“Hey, me too. We can walk together,” Jessica offered.

This, at least, wasn’t as uncomfortable as walking next to Mike or Eric. At least it was less likely that Jessica might try to make a pass at me. She talked incessantly as we walked, and so quickly that I almost didn’t catch everything she said.

“Mike was talking about you nonstop in American History earlier,” Jessica said so nonchalantly that it was clearly anything but an off-the-cuff remark. “I swear Lee wanted to strangle him.”

Jessica liked Mike. It was obvious in the way she forced a nervous chuckle and rolled her eyes, then watched carefully for my reaction. Hopeful, like she wanted me to reassure her that I didn’t have any interest in Mike. Wary, like she was worried I would start raving about the boy she wanted.

I just frowned and shook my head. “Boys.”

“Boys,” she agreed, rolling her eyes.

Spanish was uneventful. Mrs. Goff didn’t make me introduce myself, just handed me a class syllabus like all my other teachers, and assured me that she would answer any questions I had. I sat, once again in the back of the room, and wiled away the hour doodling. This time, when the hour was up, my doodles were nothing but messy lines outlining the page.

“You should sit with me at lunch,” Jessica offered. “I can introduce you to all my friends.”

It could have been just my imagination, but when she said ‘introduce you’ it almost sounded like ‘show you off.’ Still, I accepted her offer and followed her to the cafeteria, where we stood in line to get our food.

As we walked through the crowded cafeteria with our trays, I noticed them again: the five strikingly attractive people I had seen through the window while I’d been getting my schedule. We were going to walk right past their table. Though I couldn’t help but feel somewhat giddy at the idea of being so near him, I tried not to look at any of them; I’d been caught watching them once already, I didn’t need it to happen again. Even trying my hardest to stare straight ahead I saw, unmistakably, how he stiffened when we walked past. The boy with the bronze hair sat ramrod straight in his seat, his hands clenched into fists on the table in front of him. When he turned his head, ever so slowly, to glare at me with intense unadulterated hatred, all four of his companions looked at me as well. His eyes were pitch black and surrounded by dark circles, his lips set in a hard scowl.

I froze in my tracks, terror coursing through every inch of my body, before a sudden wave of determination washed over me. I had to get the hell away from them, from _him_. I was still terrified, but I rushed to catch up with Jessica, who hadn’t noticed me pause, and was still talking about the Girls’ Choice dance later in the year, and how she thought she might ask Mike to go with her.

When we stopped at a nearly full table near the middle of the room, Jessica smiled brightly and gestured for me to sit next to her.

“Hey, guys! This is Bella!” she announced, excitement dripping in her voice. It was clear she thought it was some sort of accomplishment that she was the one to bring me to the table. She ran through introductions so quickly that I wouldn’t have been able to keep up even if I hadn’t just had the life scared out of me.

Several minutes later, when the table was full of female chatter, I worked up the courage to look over my shoulder. He was still glaring at me. None of his friends were looking at me, but the big one had an arm slung over the younger one’s shoulder in a way that would have looked casually affectionate if not for the way he was watching me. I had the distinct impression that the big one was putting in great effort to hold his friend in place.

I looked away and concentrated on playing with my food rather than eating it. Suddenly, I wasn’t hungry. A while later, when I guessed the bell was about to ring to signal the end of lunch, I turned to Jessica in what I hoped was a casual manner.

“Who are they?” I asked, pointing over my shoulder without looking.

“Who?” Jessica asked, looking over my shoulder, but it was clear from the tone of her voice that she had already guessed whom I was talking about. She smiled wryly and leaned in close to me, lowering her voice to a hushed whisper. “Oh, those are the Cullens.”

“The Cullens?” I asked.

“Yeah, they’re Dr. Cullen’s adopted kids,” she said. “They’re all related. I mean, sort of. The two blonds? They’re twins, Jasper and Rosalie Hale. I think the doctor and his wife only adopted them a few years ago, not long before they moved here. The brunettes are Emmett and Alice Cullen. They’re brother and sister. Technically, they’re Dr. Cullen’s niece and nephew, but his brother and sister and their spouses died like five or six years ago, I think? And he legally adopted them, so they’re his kids, too.”

“Oh.” I frowned. That was only four. There were definitely five of them. I didn’t want to ask, though, and show too much interest.

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “They’re kind of weird, honestly. Like, perfectly polite and all, I guess, but weird.”

“Weird how?” I asked. I wanted to ask if coal-black eyes and unprovoked murderous glares were the norm for that group, but she had said they were always polite and the way he had looked at me was anything but.

“They keep to themselves a lot,” she explained. “I don’t think any of them have any friends except for each other. And they’re all together.”

She gave me a significant look, like I was supposed to think something of that. When I didn’t react, she went on. “Rosalie’s with Emmett, the big burly guy. And Alice – the little one? – is with Jasper, who always looks at least a little bit in pain. It’s weird, right? That they all live together, and they’re all dating?”

“I mean, if they’re not actually related, I don’t see why it’s anyone’s business,” I said with a shrug, but I couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t said anything about the fifth one – the boy with so much hate in his eyes.

“Huh, I wonder where Edward went,” she whispered then, and I watched her face as she scanned her gaze across the cafeteria. “He’s Emmett and Alice’s cousin, another one of Dr. Cullen’s nephew-sons. He’s totally gorgeous, but for some reason, he won’t date anyone. Not even Lauren, and she tried really hard to get him to notice her when they first transferred here.”

She lowered her voice and leaned in even closer so that she was all but breathing the words in my ear, obviously not wanting her friend, Lauren to overhear. I glanced around the table, trying to remember which one was Lauren. My gaze fell on the blond girl across the table talking to one of the boys a table over, a flirtatious smile on her pretty face.

“Hey, Bella!” someone said happily and I heard a quick scrape as someone pulled a chair out to sit in the empty seat on Jessica’s other side.

“Hey, Mike!” Jessica exclaimed, leaning away from me and towards him. I looked up and nodded at him, happy to let Jessica attempt to distract him.

When I was sure neither Jessica nor Mike was looking at me, I risked one last glance over my shoulder. Sure enough, there were only four now, sitting at the table. The one who had looked like he hated me – Edward – was no longer there. The little one, Alice, turned her head suddenly to stare at me, and her sharp gaze went blank and unfocused again. Her boyfriend leaned close to her and wrapped an arm around her as he continued to look around the room as if nothing was out of the norm. Suddenly, her eyes came into focus again, and she beamed at me before turning to speak to her table quickly. Then, she got up and all but danced out of the room. After a brief pause in which all three of them looked slightly stunned, Jasper followed her.

When the lunch bell rang a few seconds later, I followed Mike to Biology, where Mr. Banner pointed me to the only empty table in the room. Mike came to sit next to me. A little annoyed, I turned to him with one raised eyebrow.

“Do you sit here?” I asked. Mike wasn’t so bad, really, if you had someone to share his attention. It just seemed like being one-on-one with him might begin to wear on me.

“Nah, I sit over there by Tyler,” Mike said, gesturing toward an empty seat a few tables away, next to a tall, lean, good-looking boy with short brown hair. “But maybe Cullen will switch with me.”

My heart stopped. “Who?”

“Edward Cullen. This is his spot. He’s the only one smart enough to do all the labs on his own, so Mr. Banner has always let him sit alone.” Mike looked around the room as if expecting Edward Cullen to suddenly appear. “I wonder where he is. He was in American History this morning.”

“Maybe he’s just running late,” I said weakly.

 _Maybe he’s avoiding me_ , said a small, scared, sad voice in my head.

“Maybe,” Mike allowed. But when the second bell rang and Mr. Banner told Mike to go back to his own seat, Edward Cullen still hadn’t arrived. I was relieved – I didn’t particularly want to spend an entire hour mere inches from a boy who seemed to hate me on sight.

Gym last period was horrible. It was Mike’s last class of the day as well, so he walked me there, talking excitedly about getting to play basketball today. Apparently, Monday was basketball day at Forks High.

“You can be on my team,” Mike reassured me, sensing my trepidation.

“Trust me, you don’t want that,” I told him, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Fifteen minutes later, I had been delegated to the sidelines after accidentally hitting three people – one of them Mike – in the head with the basketball.

“Wow, Bella,” Mike said, still rubbing the back of his head as we walked towards the parking lot after Gym. “No offense, but you really can’t play basketball.”

“I really can’t do anything involving coordination or physicality,” I said weakly, hitching my bag higher on my shoulder and twirling the adjustable strap between my fingers absently as I scanned the parking lot for Renee’s car. “And I did warn you that you didn’t want me on your team.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal. And don’t worry, I’ll still be on your team,” Mike said as he stood next to me under the awning. “Do you need a ride home? I usually ride with Lee, but I’m sure he’d be happy to make an extra stop.”

I shook my head immediately. Aside from finding it odd and a bit rude to offer to have his friend drive me home without consulting him, I also didn’t want to give Mike any reason to think I might like him. Honestly, I didn’t really dislike him; he seemed like he might not be the worst friend to have. He was certainly kind enough to take the literal hit of having me for a teammate. I just didn’t see myself liking him the way that I thought he might want me to like him.

“My mom will be here soon,” I said.

“Okay!” Mike said brightly. “But, hey. If you get tired of having your mom drive you around, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks, Mike,” I said, stepping up to the curb when I saw Renee pull into the lot. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I thought I heard him respond, but I had already pulled the hood of my jacket up against the slight drizzle and all I could really make out was the _taptaptap_ of water against the slick material.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Thanks so much for reading!  
> This is one of the longest chapters. Aside from the epilogue, there's only one chapter that will end up being longer than this... maybe two.  
> I mentioned in my first note that I used to write Twilight fanfic like a decade ago but deleted it all because it was terrible. This was actually one of the stories that I started all those years ago. Pretty sure I only got as far as the intro and chapter 1 back then, and they have both changed drastically.  
> Fun fact: in my awful first go at this, Bella was a piece of work. She was rude and cruel and had a horrible attitude and she gave Mike a dressing down in their very first conversation. It was awful.  
> Remember, next chapter will come out next Sunday!  
>  _Chapter 2. Jacob Black.  
>  He was two years younger than me, but we were about the same height, and his thick black hair was an inch or two longer than mine and hung in a long, straight ponytail down his back; the end of it swished as he moved around the kitchen putting away dishes after I’d washed and he’d dried them.  
> “How come Billy and my dad haven’t seen each other in a while?” I asked.  
> “Caught that, did you?” he said with an embarrassed laugh. He sighed and shook his head when I only nodded and watched him expectantly. “Well, it’s kind of weird.”_


	3. Chapter 2. Jacob Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I was planning on uploading this on Sunday, but I finished editing it way earlier than I expected, and I decided to upload it midweek instead! Hope you enjoy!

"Are there any cute boys in Forks?"

I made a face at my phone and had the benefit of watching my best friend Madison laugh at me. It was Friday, which made it a whole entire week since Renee and I had shipped out from Phoenix to Forks.

She clearly took my reaction to mean that there weren't any cute boys around but, in all honesty, a certain face came to mind at her question. Edward Cullen, who had looked ready to murder me at lunch on Monday, wasn't in school for the rest of the week. I was beginning to think he had transferred out, but I figured something like that wouldn't stay secret for long in a town this small. His siblings were all at school every day, sitting at that same lunch table. I knew because I had made a habit of checking. Purely for my own physical wellbeing, I tried to tell myself. Because I needed to know if I was going to have to spend Biology next to a boy who hated me for no reason.

In reality, I just wanted to see him. There was something about him… I looked at the eerily lifelike sketch of his face I had made on my Government syllabus on that first day. He was beautiful. He was alluring. Apparently, he wanted to kill me. I wanted only to see if that was true. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing. Maybe he was just a normal boy who had gotten ill and left school early and was still recovering. His father was a doctor… maybe he was just a very thorough doctor.

"Hello? Bella?" Madison sang, drawing out the words in a pretty, taunting melody. "Don't tell me you're already crushing on someone."

"No!" I insisted, my face going bright red. "I was just thinking… there are a couple guys at school who I think like me."

"Nice. And which one will you be dating?" she asked.

"None of them!" I laughed just picturing it. "There's this guy named Mike… super boyish looks… blond hair, blue eyes… he's pretty popular. I don't know, maybe he's kind of cute… not my type. Anyway, this girl Jessica, I guess we're kind of friends now… she's half in love with him. He keeps walking me to class and going out of his way to talk to me and be on my team in Gym."

"Wow, he really does like you if he's willing to put himself in harm's way just to be near you," she snickered.

I ignored her, and quickly continued. "Every time he comes to talk to me, I bring the conversation around to Jess. If she's around, I try to just shove them together."

"Ultimate wing woman, as ever," Madison said with a giggle.

"Speaking of, how's Conner?" I asked. Conner was a good friend of mine back in Phoenix. His best friend Dylan was dating Alana, one of the girls we hung out with and at first they had tried to set me up with Conner, but there was nothing there but friendship. My last few months in Phoenix, I was working on getting Conner to ask out Madison, who thought he was really cute.

"Oh, you know… we're going out tomorrow," she said nonchalantly.

I gaped at her. "Wow. Way to bury the lead."

"I know! I've been choking it back ever since you called!" she squealed.

"When did he ask you?" I said.

"Yesterday!" Even if I couldn't hear the excitement in her voice, it was plain as day on her face. "I wanted to call you right away, but I decided to let it marinate."

"Wow," I said. "That's great."

"Bella, what's wrong?" Madison reined in her excitement with some effort, to study my face closely.

"I just miss you guys," I said with a weak smile. "I miss the sun."

"Even though it burns the crap out of you in three seconds?" She said, referencing the reason for my alabaster skin.

"It's better than being wet constantly," I grumbled.

"Well, at least it sounds like you're making friends!" Madison said, trying to cheer me up. "Hey, who's the other guy?"

My mind immediately went to my mysterious, handsome Biology lab partner, who I had yet to actually meet, but I knew she couldn't be talking about him. "What other guy?"

"You said there were two boys who liked you, but you only mentioned Mike," Madison said.

"Oh. Well, there's this other guy named Eric. We only have one class together, and lunch. He and Mike are friends… only the kind of friends who seem like they hate each other half the time? I don't even really sit near him in English, but he always tries to walk with me to class, and then he started sitting with us at lunch on Wednesday," I told her.

"Is he cute?" Madison asked.

"He's uh… Well, Eric is very… nice. He's a very nice guy," I said diplomatically, but Madison laughed, clearly understanding that I meant _no, Eric is not cute_. At least, not in my opinion.

"Bells!" Charlie called loudly up the stairs. "Billy and Jacob will be here soon!"

"Do you have to go?" Madison asked, pouting.

"I guess so. Sorry," I smiled sadly. "Dad's friend and his son are coming over."

"Ooh, cute son?" Madison asked.

"Mads!" I laughed, shaking my head. "There are more important things than cute boys!"

"That has yet to be proven," Madison said primly, then raised an expectant eyebrow. "Is he?"

"Um. I haven't seen Jacob Black since we were both kids, so how would I know?" I said, and then frowned. "I think he's only fifteen."

"What's two years, if the boy is cute?" Madison said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Bella!" Renee called.

"Go," Madison said. "I have to start getting ready anyway."

"I thought your date was tomorrow."

"It is," she said, and I could see that she was standing up from her bed now, starting to move around her room. "We're all going to that state fair tonight, remember?"

I did remember. It had originally been my idea to all go together as a group. Then my parents had sprung the move on me. I forced myself to smile by the time Madison turned her attention back to me.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "Have fun!"

I could see by her frown that I hadn't fooled her. "Bella…"

"I should go before my parents yell at me again!" I said. "I'll talk to you later!"

With the click of a button, her face disappeared from my screen. Suddenly, I was feeling more depressed than ever about this move. All of my friends back in Phoenix were going off tonight to have fun at the fair that _I_ had wanted to go to.

"Bella!" Renee called from just outside my door. "If you're not down here in five minutes…"

I tossed my phone on the bed and crossed my room to fling the door open before my mother could think of a suitable threat. It probably would have been another generic 'you will regret it' anyway.

"Oh, honey," she said, her expression fading from stern to sympathetic when she saw my face. "What happened?"

"We moved to Forks," I said, trying for deadpan, but even I could hear the slight venom in my tone. Knowing I should apologize and explain myself, but not really wanting to, I slipped past Renee and down the stairs.

Jacob Black, as it turned out, was a pretty cool kid. He lived with his dad, Billy, down in La Push on the Quileute Reservation. Billy was one of the tribe elders, and he was also Charlie's best friend. Apparently, they used to go fishing a lot, but as far as I could tell, this was the first time they had gotten together in a while.

Jacob was nice, and sweet, and effortlessly funny. He acted like we were old friends instead of two teens thrust together by their fathers. Really, we kind of were old friends, but when you hadn't seen a guy since we was eleven and you were thirteen and your clearest memory of him was the two of you making mud pies together, you could be forgiven for thinking the reunion could be a little awkward.

"Hey, Jacob?" I said.

We were washing dishes together after dinner while our parents were catching up in the living room with a few cans of beer.

"Yeah?" he asked.

He was two years younger than me, but he was maybe an inch or so taller than me, and his thick black hair about as long as mine and hung in a long, straight ponytail down his back; the end of it swished as he moved around the kitchen putting away dishes after I'd washed and he'd dried them.

"How come Billy and my dad haven't seen each other in a while?" I asked.

"Caught that, did you?" he said with an embarrassed laugh. He sighed and shook his head when I only nodded and watched him expectantly. "Well, it's kind of a weird story."

"I can handle weird," I said, more curious than ever.

"Ah. Well, have you met the Cullens yet?" he asked as he rearranged the dishes in a cabinet so that he could fit another bowl. "They're a family who moved here a couple years ago."

"Yeah, I know them. Well, sort of. I go to school with the kids," I said awkwardly, wondering why everything had to circle back to Edward Cullen. "Haven't actually met them yet."

"Well. There's this legend. Down on the Res," he said haltingly. "It's stupid, I'm not supposed to talk about it."

I saw that the back of his neck and the tips of his ears were flushed and considered. Was this yet another boy who might like me? Or was this just a kid embarrassed by his tribe's superstition?

"I can keep a secret," I said, trying for the flirtatious tone that Sasha, a friend of Madison's, used often to get boys to do her bidding. It sounded awkward on my lips, forced and unnatural and horribly fake, but Jacob turned to me with slightly wide eyes. I looked back down at what my hands were doing in the soapy water, partly to hide my face from Jacob and also partly so that I didn't accidentally cut myself or break anything.

"Okay, well… the Cullens just don't have a very good reputation down on the Res," he said carefully. I could tell he was leaving something out, but I didn't trust myself to be able to pull off that flirtatious tone again. "People think they're strange."

"Well, can't argue with that," I said quietly. I dried my hands when I was finished washing the dishes, and leaned against the counter to watch Jacob finish drying and putting them away. "But what does that have to do with Billy and my dad?"

"Well, I guess my dad warned Charlie about them," Jacob said slowly, and I got the feeling he was measuring each word carefully. "Said they might be dangerous, and that he ought to keep an eye on them."

"Are they dangerous?" I whispered, thinking of Edward's murderous black glare and unprovoked hatred.

Jacob shrugged and shot me a pained grimace. "I don't know, Bella. Not in Charlie's opinion, and he's police chief, so it's his job to know if someone's dangerous."

"Jake, you ready to go?" Billy said from the doorway. I could tell by the way he was looking at us from his wheelchair that he had heard enough of our conversation to think his son had already said too much.

"Sure, sure," Jacob said, hurriedly putting away the last plate. I could see that he knew his father had caught him, but he didn't seem too worried about it as he smiled at me and said goodnight.

"Don't be a stranger, Billy," Renee said, leaning into Charlie's side when he wrapped his arm around her on the front porch. "And you, Jacob. You're welcome over for dinner anytime."

"Thanks, Mrs. Swan," Jacob grinned.

"Renee," she corrected.

"Careful what you offer. Jake here could eat a whole horse," Billy warned as Jacob lifted him into the passenger's seat with more ease than any fifteen year-old should, and folded up his wheelchair to stow in the back of the car. Charlie pretended not to notice when Jacob climbed in behind the steering wheel.

"Yeah, well, maybe Jake needs to be careful too," Charlie joked. "Renee has a knack for making some really inedible meals."

I smirked at that, and Renee elbowed him in the side with a scoff. He was right; Renee couldn't cook to save her life. Jacob and Billy only laughed and drove away as we waved them off.

The weekend passed slowly. Renee and Charlie went into town to look at a few properties to rent that Renee could use as an art studio on Saturday because there wasn't any room in our house for her to work. I spent much of the day texting my friends in Phoenix, and catching up on some reading for English. On Sunday, I woke up to a phone call from Madison, who wanted to walk me through her date with Conner. She went over every minute detail of the night, from her outfit to the cologne he was wearing, to the nervous kind of smile he sent her as he walked her to her door, right before he kissed her. After she finally let me off the phone, I texted Conner to congratulate him on finally taking my advice, and got back an emoji rolling his eyes in response.

And on Sunday afternoon, I headed out to the porch to see what the commotion was when I heard a monstrous rumbling outside. There, in the driveway sat a behemoth of a truck. It was red and solidly built, and in the driver's seat was Jacob Black. He jumped out quickly, probably so that Charlie couldn't actually _see_ him behind the wheel again, though it was pretty clear who had driven as he went to retrieve the wheelchair from the bed of the truck and helped his dad out of the passenger's seat.

"Hey, Jacob, Billy. What's up?" I asked as my parents came to the door behind me.

"Bella," Charlie said, and he sounded excited. I glanced back at him over my shoulder to see him grinning at me. "This is your new truck."

"Loose interpretation of the word 'new,' Charlie," Jacob said, laughing, probably at the look of disbelief on my face.

He wasn't wrong. The truck was ancient, probably older than I was, and the paint job was nonexistent. It was red, sure, but so faded and uneven that it was almost pink in some spots, and a very light almost orange in others. And boy was it loud, but I didn't really care. It was a truck, and it was mine. It meant that I didn't have to get Renee to drive me to and from school every day, and I would never have to be dropped off in Charlie's police cruiser.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "You bought it for me?"

I knew that this was just one more thing to mark how permanent this move was, but I couldn't help but be excited. It would be nice to be able to drive myself to school every day. And I could go into town whenever I wanted, if I ever wanted. I could go to the grocery store for myself. I could even drive up to Seattle, just to get away from Forks for a day.

"Yes, Bella, it's yours," Renee said. When I turned around, she was beaming and I knew it was because it was the first time she'd seen me smile since we came to Forks. I didn't think twice as I hugged my parents, thanking them profusely, before I ran down the walkway to inspect. I slipped when my foot hit the concrete and Jacob caught me, very gallantly deciding not to tease me as he began to give me a tour of the truck.

Before they left to head back to the Reservation with Charlie in his cruiser, Jacob warned me not take the truck over fifty. When I laughed, he told me he was serious.

"I rebuilt that engine. It's sturdy, but it will die if you drive over fifty," he reiterated.

"Good thing I know a good mechanic," I told him, and pretended to ignore his pleased flush.

On Monday, I drove my new truck to school, high on the freedom of being alone. I parked in front of a silver Volvo, by far the nicest car in the lot, and hopped cheerfully out of my truck. I wasn't even annoyed when Mike and Eric both walked with me to English, and joined in on their conversation about the weekend.

The day was smooth sailing until lunch.

I had just sat down with my tray of food at my usual table with all of my new friends when Jessica leaned over, her face right in front of Mike's, to hiss at me.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you."

I paused, my bottle of water halfway to my lips, and felt terror clawing in the pit of my stomach. "What?"

"He is," Mike confirmed, frowning. "I wonder why."

I was too much a coward to look, to confirm that he was back. After an entire week, I had gotten used to his absence. It was an absurd thing, really, to be used to the absence of someone I hadn't even met. But I knew who he was, and I knew that for some reason I couldn't grasp, he hated me. Fervently.

"Does he look mad?" I whispered.

Mike and Jessica gave me twin odd looks.

"No," Mike said slowly.

"Should he?" Jessica asked with a small, confused giggle. "I mean, how badly could you have offended him? You never even met him."

"Oh, yeah," Mike said. "He was out all last week. He's probably curious about the new girl."

His grin was teasing, and he waggled his eyebrows at me so I rolled my eyes if only because I knew I should react in some way.

"He's still staring," Jessica informed us a few minutes later.

Mike went sullen again, and stopped in the middle of what I was sure was an inflated story about the last time he went surfing. When he looked in the direction of the table I knew the Cullens occupied every day, I rammed an elbow in his side none-too-gently.

"Stop looking at him!" I hissed at them both.

Jessica giggled at my reaction, but did as I asked, her gaze dropping to the table. Mike frowned, clearly not liking that another boy was giving me attention, or that I was so affected by it. I saw the moment Jessica noticed Mike's mood: the smirk slid off her face and she propped her chin up on her fist as she pushed a pile of corn indolently around her plate.

I sighed, and pushed back my chair. I didn't have the energy for this. "I'll see you guys later," I said, and walked away.

I was dreading going to Biology and having to endure the most uncomfortable hour of my life with Edward Cullen for a lab partner. Idly, I wandered the school. Lunch had only just begun, so I had a lot of time to kill. I stopped when I came to a building I'd never been in. I didn't have any classes in Building two; I didn't even know what kind of classes were held here.

Curious, I pushed open the door and walked down the hall. I peeked in the door of the first room I passed and saw a few easels set up with paint still drying on canvas. So this building held art classes. It was comforting in a way, to be surrounded by all of the things that used to litter Renee's cramped little in-home studio back in Phoenix. I walked a little further down the hall until I came to another door. Peering inside, I was surprised to find that this was clearly the music classroom.

There was a piano in the front of the room, and several guitars and other various instruments in cases I couldn't identify. I was surprised that Forks High offered music classes; it seemed like a small town high school with only four hundred students wouldn't be the type of school to support the arts.

I stepped inside, cautiously glancing around to make sure there was no one in the room, and walked to the piano. I couldn't play very well. Aside from the embarrassingly basic Happy Birthday to You and Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, I only knew how to play a few notes. My mother enrolled me in classes back in Reno when I was about eight or nine. I made it through four lessons before I threw such a tantrum that she caved and allowed me to quit. She played a bit, but not very well. Better than me, at least. It was something that calmed her busy mind, she'd told me once. She bought a cheap, used upright when I was ten and used to sit and play poorly at night. I would tease her for her clumsy mishaps, but secretly I enjoyed sitting and listening to her play.

I sat on the bench and laid my fingers on the keys, splayed out as if I actually knew what I was doing. Quietly, I laughed to myself. What was I going to do? Play Happy Birthday? I shook my head and let my fingers smash a few keys at random, discordant notes filling the room for a split second.

A movement caught my eye and I looked up, embarrassed, ready to apologize to some teacher I hadn't met yet.

And my heart began to race when I saw him.

There, in the doorway was the bronze-haired boy from last week. Edward Cullen. I stared at him, wide-eyed, terrified, waiting to see that inexplicable hatred on his face. He stepped into the room, looked around cautiously and kept a safe distance between us. He didn't look angry. He looked confused and almost concerned.

"Hello," he said slowly. His voice was velvet on the air, soft and smooth and luxurious and as melodic as anything I'd ever heard.

Wordless, too afraid to speak, I nodded.

"I apologize. Am I interrupting?" He asked, standing rigid against the wall as far from me as he could be in this room. His guarded, almost pained expression did not match his dulcet tone.

"No," I said slowly, wondering why he was behaving so strangely.

He nodded his head and took several slow steps into the room, towards the piano and me. He looked poised to turn and flee even as he came to a halt so close to the piano that he could reach out and stroke the propped-up cover if he felt like.

The sudden return of my tension that his presence had wrought made me uncomfortable. I was sure my heart had never raced so fast. I was impossibly aware of every small movement of his body. I realized I was holding my breath, so forced myself to exhale. When I cleared my throat, he looked at me like he was concentrating really hard.

"I was just leaving," I lied.

His expression was almost completely neutral, but I sensed just the slightest edge of frustration in his gaze as he studied me. Finally, one corner of his mouth turned up, just slightly, as if he was forcing himself to smile at me. Heart pounding and hands trembling slightly, and trying to pretend I was completely unaffected by his presence, I stood, then bent to pick up the bag I'd dropped at my feet.

"Goodbye, Bella," he said as I walked carefully past him, willing myself not to trip over my own feet. I paused at the door and glanced over my shoulder. How did he know my name? Probably, I reasoned internally, he'd heard it from a classmate. He was already seated on the bench, right where I had just been, and his fingers began to move across the keys, slowly, tenderly, coaxing the most beautiful notes I had ever heard.

I looked at his face, wondering what I would see there. With a jolt, I realized he was watching me as he played, a small, accomplished smile on his lips. Flushing, I smiled weakly, and walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And he speaks! We're getting somewhere!  
> Also, I'm going to come right out and say that I am not a fan of love triangles. There will be no love triangle in this story. Jacob Black is only a friend in Bella's eyes; he will never be a romantic rival for Edward. I think I said this in the intro, but I feel the need to reiterate it.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed! See you soon with:
> 
> _Chapter 3. Singularity._  
>    
> _"Well, at least you've got Cullen for a lab partner," Mike said ruefully, his tone not quite matching the words he'd clearly meant to be helpful. I realized he was still upset that Edward Cullen had been caught looking at me at lunch. "He won't talk your ear off."_
> 
> _"That's good. I could use some peace and quiet," I said._
> 
> _Luckily, Mike seemed to catch my not-so-subtle hint. He nodded, smiled, then patted my back in a bolstering gesture and took his usual seat next to Lee. I bent down to pull my notebook out of my bag, flipped it open to a fresh page, and began to doodle._


	4. Chapter 3. Singularity.

Chapter 3. Singularity.

I was already seated at my table in Biology when the bell rang, heart still racing, stomach and fists clenched with nerves. He hadn't been rude to me at all in the music room, hadn't looked angry or murderous in the slightest, but I couldn't erase the image of his eyes, predatory and black as pitch, on me in the cafeteria a week ago. I was terrified to spend an entire hour next to him, close enough to reach out and touch him.

What could I do but sit and endure it, though? Groaning, I put my head down on my folded arms and hid my face.

It wasn't long before students began to file into the room. I heard chairs scraping and bags dropping as people took their seats. I felt someone come and stand near me and knew it wasn't _him_ , but Mike before he even spoke.

"You okay, Bella?"

"Yeah. I just have a headache," I told him, and turned my head still cradled in my arms to peer up at him with one squinting eye.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want me to walk you to the nurse's office?" Ah, Mike, ever the helpful friend. Too bad that wasn't enough for him.

I paused before I could tell him no simply out of habit. Did I want to go to the nurse's office? Maybe I could play up my fictional headache enough that I could miss out on the entire hour, buy myself one more day.

Frowning, I shook my head. "No thanks, Mike. I'll be okay."

I wouldn't be a coward. I wouldn't just run and hide because I was scared of a boy I hadn't even had a proper conversation with yet. I couldn't even be sure that I saw what I thought I had back in the cafeteria last week. He was perfectly polite earlier, and had smiled at me more than once. Sure, they weren't the biggest, most genuine smiles, but you took what you could get.

"Well, at least you've got Cullen for a lab partner," Mike said ruefully, his tone not quite matching the words he'd clearly meant to be helpful. I realized he was still upset that Edward Cullen had apparently been looking at me at lunch. "He won't talk your ear off."

"That's good. I could use some peace and quiet," I said.

Luckily, Mike seemed to catch my not-so-subtle hint. He nodded, smiled, then patted my back in a bolstering gesture and took his usual seat in the front of the room next to Lee. I bent down to pull my notebook out of my bag, flipped it open to a fresh page, and began to doodle.

I heard the chair next to me scrape the floor, heard a body settle into it, felt his presence impossibly close to me. It took everything in me, but I managed to keep my focus on my notebook, and not look up at him.

"Hello again, Bella."

My gaze snapped up, straight to his. The melodic nature of his voice was irresistible, such that I stood no chance of ignoring him.

"My name is Edward Cullen," he said with a wry smile, as if he knew that I already knew his name, though he hadn't told me before. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet last week. I was ill."

For several seconds, I could only stare at him. When I was finally able to open my mouth, I couldn't control myself. "Did you get contacts?"

His eyes were the color of molten gold. Back in the music room, all I had noticed was that they weren't full of murder, but now I could see how light and beautiful they were.

"No," he said, the barest hint of a bemused smile on his lips.

"But your eyes…" I stammered, and my head shook back and forth of its own accord. "They were black. Last week at lunch."

"Yes. My eyes shift in color sometimes. It's… hereditary," he said, chuckling slightly like it was nothing. "When I'm not feeling well, they darken. All of my siblings share the same strange trait."

I didn't believe him, not really. But what could I say?

"Is your head feeling alright?" He asked.

"Yes," I said, confused. He hadn't been here when I'd lied to Mike about my headache. Unless… I shook my head. "Why?"

He frowned, and I saw frustration creeping into his expression. "You had your head down when I walked in. I thought maybe you weren't feeling well."

But I was drawing in my notebook when he walked in. Mike had been the one to see me with my head down. Suspicious, my eyes narrowed on him just as Mr. Banner walked in wheeling a cart full of microscopes and slides.

"Can I get a volunteer to help hand out our equipment for the day?" Mr. Banner called from the front of the room.

Edward and I just kept staring at each other – I couldn't break his gaze – until Mike put a microscope on our table rather more roughly than I thought strictly necessary. Edward smirked briefly, a flash of amusement, and averted his eyes to reposition the microscope between us. I looked down at my notebook once again, waiting until Mr. Banner began to explain the lab to look up again. It was one I'd already done back in Phoenix, and Edward knew all of the answers even quicker than I did, so we were finished before any of the other tables had correctly identified a single slide. It took us less than two minutes.

"Do you play the piano?" He asked quietly after a moment.

I turned my head to stare at him. "Um. No. I don't."

"Oh." His brow furrowed in frustration and I frowned, confused until I realized he was probably wondering what I was doing in the music room earlier.

"My mom tried to get me to learn," I offered, "when I was a kid. It didn't work out."

"I see," he said, nodding. Then, "Would you like to learn?"

I stared at him for a long moment, trying to figure out what he meant. Was he offering to teach me? Or just asking a question?

"Um. I don't know. Maybe someday," I shrugged uncomfortably. "Maybe it's something I wish I would have stuck with."

"Why didn't you?" he asked, his eyes blazing with frustrated curiosity.

"Well, I was eight I think, and we were living in Reno at the time. I obviously wasn't very good at it," I said truthfully. Back then, I only wanted to do the things that came easily to me. Like reading. I still liked reading, but I was getting better at getting out of my comfort zone. Marginally better. "And I wasn't improving very quickly, so I just stopped."

"You lived in Nevada." He seemed surprised.

"For a couple years. Then California. Florida. We were in Phoenix last," I said. All warm, all sunny, all beautiful. Nothing like here.

"Why did you move to Forks?" Edward asked, seeming to be on the same wavelength.

"My parents got back together." I shook my head and took a deep breath, unable to look away from him. "I'm supposed to be happy about it, and I am, you know? It's great that my mom and dad are finally together… I've never really been able to see it before… I was just a baby when my mom and I left. It's just…"

I trailed off with a sigh and a halfhearted shrug.

"You miss your friends," Edward supplied with an understanding nod. "Of course."

"Yeah."

"Do you have a boyfriend, Bella?" he asked.

I stared at him, open-mouthed until I remembered what Jessica had said last week. _He's totally gorgeous, but he won't date anyone._ There was no way he was interested in me. He was just curious, I reminded myself. A strange, curious boy.

"No," I finally said.

"Anyone you wished would be your boyfriend?" he prompted.

"N-no," I forced out, heart hammering. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

I meant it as a joke, or maybe to flip the tables on him and make him feel uncomfortable. It didn't occur to me until the words were out that it may have sounded flirtatious. Edward smiled, and shook his head.

"No, Bella," he said in that quiet, musical tone of his. "I don't have a girlfriend."

We fell into silence as Mr. Banner came around to check up on us, surprised to see that we had finished so quickly and gotten everything correct. He walked away to check in with the rest of the class and I turned back to the doodles in my notebook.

"Am I annoying you?" Edward asked suddenly.

"No," I said. "It's just a lot of questions. I'm not… used to it."

"I apologize, Bella," he said with a smile. "I just find you very difficult to read."

"You must be good at reading people, then," I said with a grimace. He'd certainly picked up on why I didn't want to be here pretty quickly, and hadn't seemed to assume I was trying to flirt with him just now.

Edward flashed another privately amused smile and inclined his head. "Usually."

I turned my gaze to the front of the room when Mr. Banner called the class to order and tried to pay attention to the lesson he presented explaining the lab Edward and I had just flown through. I found it difficult, however, to keep my mind from wandering to the conversation we had just had. It was only a week ago he'd looked at me with such undisguised rage, but only moments ago, he'd seemed so genuinely interested. And now, he was leaning into the aisle, as far away from me as he could possibly get without leaving his seat.

When the bell rang, Edward was standing, books in hand, and was out the door before the chime had even finished. I watched his back until he slipped out the door, then let out a long breath. Hadn't Mike said _Cullen won't talk your ear off_ before class started? I shook my head. I had never been asked so many questions in one sitting before.

The week that followed was much the same. The days passed without event until lunch, when Jessica would nudge me and gesture as subtly as she was able towards the table in the corner. Every day, it was just Edward Cullen staring at me. He wouldn't bother to look away when our eyes met, but neither did he smile or wave; he always just continued to look at me until I forced myself to look away.

Every time Mike and I walked into Biology, Edward was already there sitting at our table. Mike would frown and walk to his seat when I took mine. As soon as the day's lesson was complete and we had time to ourselves, the inquisition would begin: did I play any sports? What were my friends like back in Phoenix? What were some things I liked to do when I got together with my friends? Did I miss the sun? Did I mind the rain?

It was dizzying, and I was more than a little mystified by his curiosity, but I answered all of his questions. And then, the moment the bell rang, he was gone again without a parting word. I just didn't understand what game he was playing.

The Wednesday morning of my third week in Forks, I pulled into the school parking lot much earlier than I meant to. When Renee was driving me to school, it was always a struggle to get her out the door on time and we usually pulled up right before the first bell rang. Ever since my parents had given me the truck, though, I'd been timing my arrival for about fifteen minutes before the first bell.

That morning, I was talking to Madison on the phone, and Charlie had already left for the police station and Renee had headed into town to sign the lease for her art studio. Alone in the house and distracted on the phone, I'd been practically on autopilot, dressing, eating my breakfast, and heading out without even paying attention to the time.

There were only a few cars in the lot when I parked, and no one standing around outside, so I stayed in my car and let Madison finish talking about her latest date with Conner. Finally, just as she was winding down, the parking lot started to fill up. A glance at the flickering clock on the dashboard told me that first period would begin in ten minutes. Restless, I got out of the car, my phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder, and headed around to the back of my truck, fumbling with the strap of my bookbag. For once, it wasn't raining, though the heavy grey clouds promised rain to come later in the day.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend," Madison was saying. "Obviously, I said yes."

"Wow, that's great, Mads," I said, sparing a greeting nod for Mike, who was waving me down from under the metal awning in front of the office. I looked around to see if any of our other friends were here yet. All I saw, though, was Edward Cullen standing near a silver Volvo a few spots away from me. He was looking at me with that same neutral expression he always had at lunch. I didn't even needed Jessica to point it out to me anymore, though she did so every day without fail.

I averted my gaze, pretending to be fascinated by the drawstring of my jacket.

"Bella?" Madison said.

"Sorry, what?" I said, realizing that she'd been talking while I was zoned out staring at Edward.

"I was saying how I wish he had worked up the nerve to ask me out before you moved away. I wish I could tell you all about it in person," she said.

"Oh, yeah," I said, distracted by the feeling that he was still watching me. I looked up again and saw that I was right. I was trying to work up the strength to look away, but I was transfixed by the force of his gaze, so I saw when his expression shifted to one of horror.

Then I heard the tires squealing. Turning, I saw a blue minivan skidding on a patch of ice headed straight for the back of my truck, right where I was standing.

 _Oh, shit_ , I thought, but I didn't have time to actually articulate the thought. I wasn't going to have time to move out of the way.

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die. All I saw was Edward, every time I'd ever caught him looking at me, every little half smirk that had quirked his mouth, the odd way he sometimes looked at me, like he was trying to see inside my head, whenever he asked me a question.

Something hit me in the side _hard_ , knocking me to the ground and stealing my breath. My head hit the asphalt with a sharp crack just as the van hit my truck with the sickening crunch of metal on metal. Two strong and slender pale white hands stood out in a large fresh dent in the side of the blue minivan. It hadn't hit me yet, but it was still coming, the tires still squealing.

A familiar voice cursed imaginatively, barely more than a whisper in my ear. He swung me then, with one hand like I was nothing but a ragdoll. The other hand caught the van and lifted the front of it a full six inches off the ground. My feet dragged on the asphalt until they hit the rear hubcap of the tan car next to mine. There was a jarring thud as the wheels of the van settled right where my legs had just been.

There was silence, deafening silence, for a split second when it was over. Then, everyone started to scream. It was the low, insistent voice in my ear that caught my attention, though.

"Bella, are you okay?"

Edward Cullen was leaning over me, his face mere inches from mine, his hand holding me in place next to him so I couldn't try to get up. I stared up at him, and saw nothing but concern in his eyes.

"How did you get here so fast?" was all I could think to say. I heard footsteps as everyone rushed towards us, but we were completely enclosed on all sides as the tan car next to my truck had been knocked forward by the force of the collision and struck the front end of my truck.

He looked bemused, but I could see the farce in his expression now. He shook his head. "I was standing right next to you, Bella."

The lie was so smooth that I would have believed him if I hadn't been looking right at him a second before it happened.

"No, you were next to your car," I insisted, trying to shove his hand away so that I could sit up, but it was like he was made of stone; he didn't budge. "How did you do that?"

"Bella, I was standing right next to you," he said again, moving his hand so that I could sit up if I wanted, but he looked ready to push me back down if I tried to stand, so I stayed where I was. "I was going to ask if you had any trouble with the Biology homework."

Ignoring how absurd the idea of Edward Cullen talking to me about homework was, I shook my head, and winced at the sharp pain.

"How did you stop the van?" I whispered. There were people all around us; I didn't think they could possibly hear us through the pandemonium, but I didn't want to risk it and get him in trouble.

His face went carefully blank and he looked away. Suddenly, my cellphone was in his hand, the screen cracked from when I must have dropped it. "I think your friend is concerned for you."

"Bella? Oh my God, Bella! What's going on?" I could barely make out her words as Edward held my phone out to me, but the edge of hysteria in her voice was obvious.

"I'm okay, Madison," I mumbled, taking the phone from him. "But, um, I'm gonna have to call you back later."

"Bella! What just happened?" I heard her say, but I was already ending the call.

Edward was still watching me closely. I didn't know what he saw in my face, but whatever it was must have convinced him that I wasn't going to let this drop. He frowned and sighed. "Please, Bella," he murmured as people started trying to move the van.

"Fine," I said. "But you owe me an explanation."

"Fine," he snapped and leaned back as far away from me as he could in our little cage of crushed vehicles.

The nearly half hour it took for the paramedics and several teachers to move the van enough to get to us passed in utter silence as Edward took it upon himself to pretend I didn't exist. I spent the time inspecting the scene around me. There was a large dent in the side of the van that perfectly matched the size and shape of Edward's hands, but it was the tan car next to me that fascinated me more. There, in the passenger door, was an even bigger dent that looked, to me, like it might be from someone bracing their shoulders against it. Perhaps when he had been lifting the van so that it wouldn't crush my legs? The dent certainly wasn't caused by the van itself.

I looked around, expecting to see Edward still pretending I wasn't sitting less than a foot from him, and jumped. He was watching me again with a distrustful frown.

"I won't say anything," I whispered just as the adults created a big enough gap between the front of the van and the back of my truck. "I just want to know the truth."

All I saw before paramedics flooded us was disbelief on his face, and that now-familiar curious frustration.

Edward, of course, talked his way out of a stretcher. I didn't have the same luck, considering Edward told the paramedics that I had hit my head pretty hard on the asphalt. They wheeled me in alongside Tyler Crowley, who had been driving the van and lost control on a patch of ice. His windows had shattered from the force of the impact and he had a myriad of shallow slices all over his face and hands. It would likely take a while for nurses to extract every little shard of glass from his flesh.

To my horror, both Renee and Charlie met me at the hospital.

"Oh my God, Bella!" Renee cried out.

"Bella!" Charlie shouted.

"I'm fine!" I assured them quickly as I was wheeled past them into an examination room. I was sure I looked a lot worse than I actually felt, thanks to the neck brace the paramedics had put me in, much to my chagrin.

The nurses had barely left the room when the door opened again and a doctor walked in. He was young with sleek, gleaming hair so blond it was almost white and his skin was paler even than mine. He was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I could have guessed who he was even before I saw his strange, amber eyes though he didn't look nearly old enough to be the father of a teenager, much less five of them.

"Hello, Bella. I'm Dr. Cullen," he said in a soft, smooth, soothing melody.

"I figured," I muttered, averting my gaze.

"I'm sorry?" he said, pausing at the foot of the bed the nurses had transferred me to.

"Nothing," I said, flushing and shaking my head.

Edward, I was certain, would have asked me to explain myself, curious and demanding as he was. His father, however, nodded, and walked forward.

"I hear you took a nasty fall," Dr. Cullen said. "You hit your head?"

"Yes," I said sullenly, crossing my arms over my chest. "Your son has a big mouth."

Dr. Cullen's lips quirked up in a small amused smile, but he didn't otherwise acknowledge my quip.

"I'm going to check for a concussion," he informed me, gently lifting my chin with one hand as he reached into the pocket of his jacket for a flashlight. He shone the light in my eyes and had me stare at the finger he held up as he looked me over. He inspected the tender spot on my head and frowned when I flinched.

"Pain?" he asked.

"Not so bad," I said with a shrug. I had suffered worse. Mom had briefly put me in soccer as a kid. I'd somehow managed to clobber myself in the head with my own cleat. That was definitely more painful than this.

"Well, you don't have a concussion," he said, smiling when I nodded because I already knew that. "You should take some Tylenol when you get home, though, to help with the pain."

"I can't go back to school?" I said, frowning. I didn't particularly want to go home and deal with my frantic, hovering mother.

"Tomorrow, but I advise you to take today to recover," Dr. Cullen said. When I only frowned even more despondently, he smiled at me again. "If it makes it any better, Mr. Crowley will be out for the rest of the week."

"That does help. Some," I mumbled.

When Dr. Cullen glanced at something over my head, I turned to see Edward standing in the doorway.

"What's the verdict?" he asked. His tone was off, like he already knew the answer and was only asking as a formality, or for my benefit.

"No concussion," I grumbled, but he looked only at his father.

"She's fine," Dr. Cullen assured his son.

"Can I talk to you?" I said, narrowing my eyes on Edward. He frowned and sighed. I thought he was about to refuse, but his father had already stepped to the door.

"I'll go speak to your parents," he told me, then glanced at his son and laid a hand on his shoulder as he passed him.

Annoyed, Edward glared at his father's back as Dr. Cullen walked swiftly towards the waiting room. He took several steps forward and then stopped in the middle of the room, glaring at me.

"What?" he demanded harshly.

My heart rate kicked up in response to his hostility, but I wasn't going to back down so soon. Edward could be intimidating, but I knew now that he didn't want anything bad to happen to me, not after all the effort he'd put into keeping me alive today. And he came to the examination room to check up on me, after all. He certainly wasn't about to hurt me.

"It's later," I told him.

He kept his mouth shut in an obstinate scowl. For a long moment, all we did was stare at each other expectantly. He was expecting, I was sure, for me to yield and stop demanding an explanation, and I was expecting him to cave and speak. After a full minute of silence, it became clear to me that neither of us would leave satisfied.

Closing my eyes, I sighed. "Look, I told you I wasn't going to tell anybody. I meant it. I'm not going to say anything. But I have to know what happened."

"I don't know what to tell you, Bella," he spat out through gritted teeth.

"Like I said before. I just want the truth," I said.

"You think I lifted a van with one hand?" His tone was infuriatingly condescending and I felt my face begin to flush as my rage built.

I frown at him, and felt my chin jut out stubbornly. "You also crossed the lot faster than humanly possible, and I _saw_ you push the van away from me."

"I didn't," he insisted, and I could hear the anger simmering in his voice. "I just pushed you aside and we both were lucky with the rest."

"Fine. You don't want to tell me the truth? Fine! Just don't _lie_ to me!" I snapped, shoving at my disorderly hair and standing. Lightheaded from the sudden change, I stumbled.

Edward caught me by the elbow, steadied me, and then released me quickly.

"I'm _fine_!" I snapped again and brushed past him.

"Bella," Edward said when I reached the door. I paused, but he didn't speak until I turned to look at him. His beautiful face was completely blank. "Perhaps it would be better all around if we just didn't speak at all."

Stung, and feeling foolish for it, I blinked at him, and then scowled and stomped away towards the waiting room without responding. We weren't friends, I knew that, but I had to admit to myself that I was just beginning to enjoy his attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter so far because there's just so much Edward in it! And, honestly, this is where things begin to pick up a lot. I hope you enjoyed.  
> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> Next time, we have:
> 
> _Chapter 4. Girls' Choice._
> 
> _It hit me, then, that he may have been, in his own strange way, trying to protect me. Because Edward Cullen was dangerous, wasn't he? Hadn't I known it since my first day here? His eyes had been black and full of hate for me, and I'd been sure that he was seconds away from murdering me. But then he'd come back with ochre eyes and soft words and thoughtful questions, and it had thrown me off. But now, wasn't he all but telling me that he was a danger to me? I didn't feel threatened by him anymore, not after the lengths he had gone to protect me, after the personal risk he had taken for me. He wouldn't confirm it, but I knew he had lifted that van, had practically flown across the lot at the speed of light to save me._


	5. Chapter 4. Girls' Choice.

Edward made good on his promise. When I greeted him in Biology the following day, he offered me nothing more than a polite nod and spent the entire hour in silence, his body angled away from me and towards the narrow aisle, even when we were once again the only two finished the lab.

This went on for weeks, Edward refusing to acknowledge me beyond the barest requirements for politeness. Often, I felt the penetrating weight of his stare on me in lunch, between classes, and throughout most of Biology, as well. Where as before he would have held my gaze unabashedly, every time I turned to find him now he was steadfastly looking in a different direction.

Mike, who had been moping and quiet around me for the few days Edward had been talking to me before the incident, seemed rejuvenated when he noticed the cold change between us. He had taken up walking me to every class with renewed enthusiasm and spent the five minutes before Mr. Banner called the class to order standing right in front of me every day at the table I shared with Edward.

One Monday afternoon, Mike perched himself on the edge of my Biology table. Edward, who was, for once, already in his seat before Mike and I arrived, stiffened almost imperceptibly so that I was sure the only way someone would notice would be if they were sitting right next to him or paying very close attention to him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his head tilt just slightly towards me, and I was almost certain he was listening to the fairly one-sided conversation Mike was having with me.

"So," Mike said, his tone shifting suddenly. The brief pause he took was heavy with anxiety. "Jessica asked me to the dance this morning."

I already knew that. Jessica had found me before school, practically vibrating with excitement, and told me she was going to ask him. The Girls' Choice dance was three weeks away, and people were beginning to pair up.

"Awesome," I said brightly, leaning down to rummage through my bag. "You guys will have a great time."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess," Mike said uncertainly. From my vantage point with my head practically under the desk, I felt it was safe to chance a glance at Edward. I could just see his mouth from beneath his arm. He was smirking. "I actually told her I had to think about it."

I straightened up quickly, just barely avoided hitting my head on the edge of the desk, and shot Mike a disapproving look as I flipped through my notebook to find a blank page. "Why would you do that? Jessica's great. You guys would have a lot of fun together."

Jessica was a lot of things: talkative, jealous, and a bit vain. But, she was the first real friend I had made here and she was nice to me and she liked Mike a lot. In my book, that made her pretty great as far as Forks was concerned.

"Well, I was actually wondering if you might be planning to ask me," Mike said with a hopeful smile.

"Mike," I said slowly, too aware of Edward listening; he wasn't even trying to hide it anymore, "you should tell Jessica yes."

"Right. You're right. I'll do that. Thanks, Bella," he said too brightly, ears pink, and made a quick exit to his own seat.

Sighing, I lowered my head into my hands. I felt Edward's eyes on me still, but I didn't have the energy to deal with him.

When Mr. Banner backed into the room with a projector on a cart, I straightened, and finally turned to face Edward. He didn't bother to turn and pretend he hadn't been looking at me this time.

"What?" I said harshly. He merely quirked an eyebrow at me. I glowered at him. "You should have just saved yourself the trouble and let the van hit me."

Shock rippled across his face, but I turned sideways in my seat, facing the window, my back to him, and gave him the cold shoulder for once.

When the bell rang, I took my time packing my things. I fully expected Edward to rush out of the room as usual, but he seemed to be lingering in his seat as well. Mike, on the other hand, practically ran out instead of waiting to walk me to Gym, but not before I saw him glance back, looking miserably between me and Edward.

I could still feel Edward looking at me, but I clung tight to my determination. I would not give him the satisfaction of looking at him. Not this time. Deliberately, I stood and made my way to the door.

"Bella." My heart practically stopped when his voice, so soft, came from right behind me in the hallway. I wheeled around and found my face inches from his lean chest. He took a step back, and his eyes were wary, but still he spoke to me. "You think I would rather have let you die?"

"Well, it would have made it easier for you to avoid me," I said, turning on my heel, intent on stalking away from him, but I was aware immediately that he was following me. He made no sound at all, but I could feel him right behind me.

"Not hardly," Edward said with humorless laugh. Then, "Bella, I said it would be best if we didn't speak, not that I didn't want to speak to you."

"Wow, what a difference that makes," I threw over my shoulder, my voice dripping with disdain. "Thanks so much for clearing that up for me."

"It's quite a difference, actually," he muttered so quietly that I barely heard him. I stopped again, just outside the gym, and turned to face him. He looked almost sad. "I enjoy speaking to you."

"But you're still not going to," I said, daring him to tell me I had it all wrong.

"No, probably not," he answered quickly, and I realized the look in his eyes wasn't sad; it was something close to regret. "I'm sorry, truly, I am, but you're better off not being my friend, Bella. It's safer for you."

It hit me, then, that he may have been, in his own strange way, trying to protect me. Because Edward Cullen was dangerous, wasn't he? Hadn't I known it since my first day here? His eyes had been black and full of hate for me, and I'd been sure that he was seconds away from murdering me, cafeteria full of people be damned. But then he'd come back with ochre eyes and soft words and thoughtful questions, and it had thrown me off. But now, wasn't he all but telling me that he was a danger to me? I didn't feel threatened by him anymore, not after the lengths he had gone to protect me, after the personal risk he had taken for me. He wouldn't confirm it, but I knew he had lifted that van, had practically flown across the lot at the speed of light to save me.

Edward Cullen was not a normal teenager; that much was certain. But knowing that didn't stop the pull that I felt towards him. And, if what he was saying was any indication, he felt some strange pull towards me, too. It was as if we were two magnets struggling against hope to stay apart. It made me wonder what would happen when we inevitably collided.

"Well, Edward," I said slowly, peering up at him. If I hadn't been staring at him so intently, I might have missed the quick way his eyes flashed. I realized it was the first time I had said his name aloud to him, and I felt the flush creeping up my neck with the knowledge that he had noticed too, and some part of him liked it. "Isn't that as much my decision as it is yours?"

"I wish it could be," he said softly, reaching out to catch a strand of hair that had come loose from my braid, and tucking it behind my ear. His hand was cold as ice, but that wasn't why I shivered. "Goodbye, Bella."

Confused beyond belief, I stood there for several seconds after he walked away before I got a hold of myself and managed to turn around. And almost walked right into Eric.

"Gah!" I clutched my heart, then closed my eyes and took several deep, steadying breaths. When I opened my eyes, he was still there, radiating nervous energy. I narrowed my eyes at him. "What's up, Eric?"

"Hey, Bella," he said. Then, in a tumble of words, as if he'd worked up the nerve to say it and was worried that he wouldn't be able to see it through if he didn't capitalize on the fleeting moment of courage, he asked me to the dance.

I stared at him for several seconds too long – his face was steadily turning redder by the second – before I blurted out the first thing in my mind. "I thought it was girls' choice."

"Well, yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just…"

He stopped forming words then, and could do nothing but stammer at me. Taking pity, I forced a smile and shook my head.

"I appreciate it, Eric, but I'm not going to the dance," I said. I racked my brain for a good excuse; Eric was sweet and I didn't want him to be totally crushed. Just mildly crushed. "I'll actually be in Seattle that weekend."

"Oh, well, that's okay. Maybe next time?" he said with a downtrodden smile.

"Maybe," I allowed, unable to tell him that there wasn't going to be a next time either. We only had the one class and lunch together, so he wasn't as good a friend as Mike, but he truly was a nice guy. "Hey, Eric, I'm sorry, but I gotta get to class."

"Right," he said. "Sure, Bella. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure," I said, turning to watch as he practically sprinted away from me. And there was Edward Cullen standing just outside the door, watching me with an amused smirk. Aggravated, and emotionally exhausted, I turned and finally finished stalking away from him. All through gym, all I could think about was how strange Edward had been all day. First, when Mike had asked me about the dance, he'd tensed beforehand like he'd known what was coming. And then, with Eric, the look on his face certainly implied that he had heard every word, though that was impossible; wasn't it?

Of course, in a school as small as Forks High, there was no way I was going to get out of seeing Edward Cullen one more time before the day was done. I was just getting into my truck after Gym when he walked right past my windshield, chuckling to himself. I had no real reason to believe he was amused at my expense again, as he wasn't even looking at me, but I just knew, deep down, that he was. I watched him get into his car and quickly back out of his parking spot just a few spaces away from me, then zip past me. Once I'd backed out of my spot right behind him and was blocking a Nissan Sentra, he stopped in the middle of the lot to wait for his siblings who were all the way by the cafeteria still, effectively blocking me in and causing a line of cars behind us waiting to leave campus.

Frustrated, I considered ramming into his trunk, but I didn't really have the funds to buy him a new luxury car, so I reigned in my temper. A tap on my window startled me and I turned to see Tyler Crowley standing there grinning at me. The drivers' door to the Sentra I was blocking was open, and I figured it was his new car.

"Hey, Tyler," I said warily once I'd managed to get my window rolled down. "Sorry, you'll have to ask Cullen to move, I'm stuck behind him."

"Oh, no, I know," he said with a bright smile. "I was actually just wondering who you were planning to ask to the dance."

I felt my stomach drop to my toes. Another annoyed glance ahead showed me that the bastard was watching me in his rearview mirror, smirking as if he had planned this whole thing. My foot twitched on the brake, itching to press the accelerator.

"I'm not going to the dance, Tyler," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to be in Seattle that weekend."

"Yeah, that's what Yorkie said, but I thought maybe you were trying to let him down easy," Tyler said with another overly-friendly smile. I wanted to hit him almost as much as I wanted to total Edward's car. "I just wanted to put my name in for your consideration."

"Well, that's not happening," I said firmly. Tyler and I were not friends. He was just a boy who clearly felt guilty for almost killing me in the school parking lot last month. I did not have to spare his feelings.

But Tyler only shrugged, still with that broad smile. "No worries; there's always prom." He was back in his car before his words sunk in.

"What the fuck?" I said, half to myself, and half to Edward, who was still laughing at me in his rearview as if he had heard every word. I revved my engine, but his siblings had already slid into their seats in his car, and he sped away before I could do anything I might regret.

That night, I stared restlessly at my dark bedroom ceiling. It was easier in Phoenix, I thought. Sure, I had on occasion wished that a boy – a nameless, faceless, idealized version of a boy I hadn't even met yet – would show some interest in me, but it turned out to be better to have no prospects than to have three guys I wasn't interested in ask me out in one day. I had friends in Phoenix. Well, I had Madison and Conner, and they had friends. I had a social life. I saw the sun. I didn't have a frustrating, mysterious lab partner who seemed to take pleasure in my distress. I wasn't Bella Swan, Chief Swan's daughter, the new girl in town. I was just Bella. I was just content.

Why hadn't that been enough for my parents?

I closed my eyes and groaned quietly, frustrated when a pair of golden-brown eyes took hold of my imagination. Edward was a pain in the ass, that was for sure, but there was a part of me that couldn't truly wish that I'd never met him. The way he made me feel when I didn't want to smack him over the head with a crowbar was new to me, and exhilarating and I was pretty sure he felt something similar for me.

Why else would he have bombarded me with all of those questions the first week he'd been back when it was so out of character for him to engage with people at all? Why else would he have risked exposing himself – whatever his secret was – to save my life? And he didn't even regret it; he'd said so himself right to my face. I didn't know what he was, but damn did I want to.

Just the thought of getting to know him, of him not pretending to feel nothing for me, of us being alone together and speaking freely about our lives and our feelings, and acting on those feelings? It brought on a pang of need I couldn't remember ever feeling before. Even when I'd been curious to know what the other girls were talking about at school and touched myself, I hadn't felt this intense burning in my core. Restless, I rubbed my thighs together and bit my lip at the pleasant friction.

What the hell? I was wide-awake anyway.

Kicking my feet under the covers, I spread my legs a bit and trailed my right hand down my stomach. My long sleep shirt was already bunched up around my waist from my restless tossing and turning, so my fingers slipped uninhibited into my underwear.

I found the little nub of nerves that shot electricity through my veins. My hands were cold; I stifled a moan in my pillow as I recalled Edward Cullen's cold hand when he'd tucked my hair behind my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut, allowed myself to focus on the memory of his bronze hair, imagined how soft and silky it might feel between my fingers. I spread my legs wider, pressed a bit firmer, and worked my fingers in a circular motion. My heart was pounding; my head was fuzzy. My free hand clenched my comforter in a death grip as I fell apart.

I lay there, my breathing ragged as I stared up at the ceiling again. My previous curious endeavors had never been anything like that. I wondered if the trick was to just think of a hot guy. Then, I wondered how I would be able to face said guy at school tomorrow, knowing what I'd just done with him in mind.

Maybe it would help me not be so annoyed with him; maybe it would make everything worse.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but still all I could think about was Edward Cullen.

**************************************************************ANIMALMAGNETISM****************************************************************

Need to talk.

I sighed and stared at my phone, at the ominous text message from Madison, as I sat in my truck before school started. I wasn't too proud to admit to myself that I was avoiding getting out; Mike, Tyler, and Eric were all standing in the gloomy courtyard, not together but near enough, and I didn't have it in me to face them. Dealing with the three of them almost seemed preferable to whatever Madison had to say, though.

I didn't really have any reason to believe that she had bad news. It was just as likely that she only wanted to talk about Conner, how wonderful or how awful he was depending on the moment. I just had a bad feeling, though. My mind was still reeling after being asked out three times in one day. And then, of course, there was the mystery surrounding Edward Cullen. I wanted to throttle him sometimes, but I also just wanted to pick at him until those layers of mystery peeled away. Of course, as I had discovered last night, I also wanted to be with him. It was infuriating; he was infuriating.

Part of me wished I could just avoid any and all complications from here on out. And after only being able to toss and turn, always jerking awake whenever I started to truly fall asleep last night, I wasn't sure I could really handle anything today.

Still, Madison was my best friend and there was always a chance that she needed me, so I turned sideways to press my back to my door and stretched my legs out across the bench seat as I dialed her number. While I waited for her to pick up, I scowled when a grey Volvo pulled into the lot. When they parked on the opposite side of the parking lot, everyone but the driver, models all, piled out and made their way slowly to the school.

"Bells, hey!" Madison shouted, and I jumped and winced, drawing the phone away from my ear. Judging by all the background noise on her end, Madison wasn't avoiding her classmates this morning. "Sorry, let me find someplace quiet so we can talk. I'll catch you at lunch, Sam!"

Sometimes, I forgot how popular Madison was, but as I listened to her call out greetings to what seemed like everyone she passed, I remembered being in awe of her, and a bit exhausted at just the thought of having so many people to talk to. At times, it made me wonder why on earth she would want to be friends with me.

"What's going on, Mads?" I asked.

"Just a second, Bella," she said quietly. "Hey, girl! See you later!"

"Madison," I complained.

"I know, I know, I just need to find a private spot," she promised. "Oh, hey Conner. Give me a second, it's Bella!"

"Hey, Bella!" Conner's voice was muffled and far away, but deep and strong as ever.

"Tell him hi," I said.

"She says hi, now give me a minute. I need to talk to my best friend." I heard a wet kiss, and made a face when she giggled.

"Okay, hi." She sighed and there was the sound of a door closing and all of her background noise faded away. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," I said. It wasn't really a lie. I was certainly not great, annoyed as I was by four different guys, but I also wasn't doing badly if you ignored my exhausted state. "What's up?"

"Okay, fine. You want to jump straight into the drama, we can do that," she said.

I glared suspiciously at my blank dashboard. "Whose drama?"

"Yours," she told me. "Alana is pissed at you."

I groaned, and felt the back of my head hit the window. "How is that even possible?"

Alana was one of Madison's friends who had been nice enough to me until she started dating our mutual friend Dylan. It was stupid, but I was pretty sure she disliked me because Dylan took me as a friendly gesture to the one and only school dance I had ever attended. We didn't even dance together, but somehow I managed to hurt both him and myself before the night was over. It happened more than a year before they even started dating, so I didn't really understand her issue, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"Well, you know how Dylan is really recklessly brave about doing stupid things, yet somehow a coward when it comes to confrontation?" Madison asked.

Dylan once jumped off the roof of a three-story building onto a trampoline to impress Alana, and later that same day I watched him not even try to point out the mistake of a guy who accidentally picked up his drink at the smoothie bar.

"Yeah?"

"Well, last night he decided to break up with Alana…" She paused, and my stomach filled with dread.

"What does that have to do with me?" I demanded through gritted teeth.

"I'm getting there, hold on," she said, and I imagined she was twirling her long blond hair around her fingers, something she did often when she was agitated. "Instead of telling her he didn't want to be with her because she's kind of a bitch sometimes, he told her he couldn't be with her because he had feelings for you and it wasn't fair to her for him to keep pretending."

"What? Why would he say something like that?" I exclaimed. "It's not even true!"

"He thought it would make her less angry than the truth," she said. "Because he's an idiot boy. He called Conner last night after he dumped her and told him all about it, how he thought since you weren't here anymore nothing bad could come of it."

"But?"

"Yeah, well…" she sighed. "Alana caught me a few minutes ago and basically said that you should feel lucky you moved to Washington because she wants to kill you."

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the anxiety that spiked through my body. "Dylan better be happy I moved to Washington because I want to murder him."

"I know, Bella. I'm sorry," Madison said, and I could hear the concerned frown in her voice. "I just thought I should let you know because, well… she's kind of telling everyone about it."

"Why are guys so stubborn?" I cried, watching as the door to the Volvo opened and Edward Cullen got out, far more gracefully than anyone as tall as him had any right to move. "Why can't they ever just say what they mean?"

Madison was silent for a long time, and I realized with a thrill of shock and pleasure that Edward was looking right at me. I wondered again if he had some type of superhuman hearing on top of the strength and speed. He didn't look away as he walked smoothly across the parking lot, and I didn't either. If he was eavesdropping, so be it; I was going to let him know that I knew.

"Bella, are you sure you're okay?" Madison asked. "Are you having boy problems?"

I laughed. Was I having boy problems? How could I possibly answer that? Edward's head cocked to the side like he was trying to make sense of some indecipherable noise. I shook my head. "It doesn't even matter."

"What? Bella, talk to me! I want to help," Madison said and it sounded like she was pacing in an empty classroom. "Do you like someone? Is he being a jerk about it? Does he not know what a catch you are?"

"Seriously, Madison, there's nothing to tell," I insisted, finally dropping my gaze when Edward's expression grew more frustrated and intense.

"Ooh, is he off limits? Married? Is he a teacher? Oh my God, Bella; are you into a teacher?" Madison said, growing more and more excited as she spoke.

"Geez, Mads, no!" I exclaimed. "Why do I feel like your hormones are out of control right now?"

"Okay, can I tell you a secret?" she said, speaking quickly.

"Of course," I said.

"I just don't want to monopolize the conversation if you wanted to talk about your stupid boy," she said.

I scoffed. "Please, I would rather talk about literally anything else."

It was both true and not, because my stupid boy was obviously Edward Cullen and if I was going to talk about him, I wanted to talk about his miraculous, impossible feats and I couldn't do that. So, I couldn't talk about him.

"Okay, if you're sure…" Madison said. When I didn't jump in and say that actually, yeah, I did want to talk about my own stuff, she spoke quickly and excitedly. "I've decided I'm going to have sex with Conner. Tonight. His parents are out of town and he asked me to come over, and I said yes and I decided I'm just gonna go for it!"

I could practically hear the squeal she was repressing. I grimaced and sat up straight; I was friends with Conner before he and Madison started dating and while I wouldn't call him a brother, he was my closest guy friend. I didn't particularly want to picture him in a sexual way.

"Wow," I said, and I knew the second the word left my mouth that I didn't succeed in masking my discomfort. Conner was great, but they hadn't even been dating for two months and I wasn't sure why she thought it was a good idea to lose her virginity to him so soon. "Are you sure?"

Sure, I'd touched myself while thinking of a guy I'd only known for a couple months last night, but I wasn't about to have sex with him.

"Yes, Bella." She laughed, but it was strained. I wasn't reacting the way she wanted, and she was not happy with me. "Don't be such a prude."

I frowned and spoke much more stiffly than I meant to. "I am not being a prude, Madison. I just think this is a big step and you need to be careful."

"Yes, Mom." I didn't have to see her to know she was rolling her eyes. "I'll make sure he wraps it before he taps it."

The thing about my best friend, I had to remember, was that she was one of the nicest people you would ever meet. Unless you embarrassed her or hurt her feelings. Then the claws came out.

"That's not what I…" I sighed and shook my head. "Look, just listen to me, okay?"

"Fine, yeah, what is it?" Madison said, but I could tell she wasn't really that interested in what I had to say anymore, not after I hadn't shown the proper amount of excitement.

"Conner is a great guy, and a good buddy, and I know you like him a lot, but you haven't even been together that long," I said quickly, trying to get all the words out before she decided she was done listening. "And as great as he is, underneath it all he is still just a seventeen year-old boy who will say whatever it takes to get what he wants."

"Jesus, Bella," Madison sighed, but her tone was softer now. "Conner isn't taking advantage of me. He doesn't even know what's gonna happen tonight. I just decided."

"You what?"

"I just want to get it over with, you know? And Conner is… like you said, he's a good guy. Yeah, I like him a lot, but we're seventeen. You really think I actually expect to end up with him forever? I don't. I know this isn't going to last forever. But I want to be able to say that I lost it to a good guy, who I trust and respect. You know?"

"I mean, yeah, I guess." I bit my lip, then shook my head and laughed. "It's just… it's Conner! He's my friend! It's weird!"

"Hey, you're the one who worked so hard to set us up!" Madison laughed.

"Yeah, well, the possibility of you guys sleeping together didn't factor into that for me."

"Well, get over it. It's happening," Madison said, and then her tone turned teasing. "Will it make you feel better about it if I promise not to believe him if he suddenly says he's in love with you to get rid of me?"

"Actually?" I bit my lip. "Yes."

Madison laughed, and then she cursed. "Ah, I have to go! First bell just rang. I'll talk to you later!"

"Yeah, sure," I said.

"Look, Bella, don't let this Alana and Dylan thing get to you, okay?" Madison said. "Dylan is an idiot. And he wasn't thinking and, as usual, it had shitty consequences. I'm almost positive Alana knows it's just a load of crap, but she's embarrassed and hurt and so she's being a bitch. It'll all blow over, though."

"Yeah, don't even worry about it. It's not a big deal," I said, but it was. I didn't live in Phoenix anymore, but that didn't mean I had to be okay with people spreading rumors about me there. "Hey, let me know how tonight goes, okay? I'll talk to you later!"

"Bella…" she said, and I knew she didn't buy it, but before she could say anything else, I hung up.

I sighed heavily and tossed my phone towards my school bag. When it fell to the ground with a clatter, I groaned and dropped my forehead to the steering wheel. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why couldn't anything just be easy?

Taking a deep, steeling breath, I looked up. Edward Cullen was standing with his siblings now, under the overhang in the same spot they were standing when I first laid eyes on them. He was still staring at me. Behind him, I could see Mike, Tyler, and Eric still standing in the courtyard.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head with a grimace. I could feel a headache coming on. There was no way I could deal with any of them today without smacking at least one of them.

Reaching across the bench, I scrambled for my phone on the floor and sent a text to Renee.

I'm taking a mental health day.

Carelessly, I dropped it back on the floor without waiting for a response. Renee shouldn't have a problem with it; back in Phoenix, she would let me skip a day –no questions asked – once a quarter. My truck roared to life, and I threw it in reverse, backing out and driving away from the school without looking at him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! If you did, please let me know how you're liking it!  
> PS - this is totally unrelated, but tomorrow is my birthday :)
> 
> Next time:
> 
> _Chapter 5. Magnetism._
> 
> _"Um. Yeah, I guess," I said. "Will you answer some of my questions?"_
> 
> _He hesitated, and spoke very carefully. "I can't promise you that."_
> 
> _"Figures," I mumbled, and then smirked at him. "I guess I'll just have keep theorizing to myself."_


	6. Chapter 5. Magnetism.

Chapter 5. Magnetism.

It was just another average, gloomy day in Forks as I stumbled out of my truck in the school parking lot, trying to shove my phone into the front pocket of my book bag as I did so. I had tried calling Alana a few times in the last week, but she just let it go to voicemail every time which wasn't too surprising. We had never really been friends, but she had usually been nice to me because I was so close with Madison. I just wanted a chance to tell her that I had nothing to do with Dylan breaking up with her.

Preoccupied with zipping my bag, I tripped on the faded yellow concrete car stop. There was nothing I could do to catch myself as I felt the ground rushing up to meet my face. Then, a strong hand caught me by the elbow and righted me before I hit the ground.

"Where do you _come_ from?" I gasped, shoving at my hair as I stared at Edward Cullen, who had been nowhere near me – I would have seen him. I wasn't as surprised by his sudden appearance as I could have been; he had popped up quite suddenly at my side several times in the past few days.

He rolled his eyes – they were darker today, not the bright amber I had come to admire, but nowhere near the murderous black they had been on my first day. I almost asked him if he was feeling sick, but knew all I would get would be a lie. "I was …"

"No, wait," I said, recovering surprisingly quickly. "Let me guess. You were… standing right next to me?"

"It's not my fault if you're extraordinarily unobservant," Edward said calmly.

"I observe more than you know," I informed him. "More than you'd probably like me to."

"I'm sure you're more accurate than you realize," he allowed, bronze head bowing slightly.

"Was there something you wanted, Edward?" I said, too exhausted to bother playing his games as I started walking towards the school. I was still having trouble sleeping, and more than once I'd let my fingers wander while his face played in my mind. It made it hard to look at him sometimes, but more often than not, I found myself staring more intently than before.

"Actually, there was," he said and I saw from the corner of my eye that his expression perfectly matched his solemn tone of voice. "Bella, I was wondering if a week from Saturday – you know, the day of the dance – "

I whirled on him then, the urge to hit him in the face with my book bag almost irresistible. It probably wouldn't even hurt him. He didn't outright say that he knew I'd been asked three times to go to the dance already, but he didn't have to say it. He'd been there every time, and even if it was _impossible_ for him to have overheard the conversations with Eric and Tyler, I knew that he had.

"Are you trying to be _funny_?" I shrieked. People were starting to look at us now, but Edward didn't seem to mind. There was mirth in his eyes, something I had yet to see in him. My heart stuttered again in response.

"Well, did it work?" he asked with a grin.

"What?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Was I funny?"

"Hilarious, Edward," I spat, and turned to walk away, but he was right beside me again.

"Wait, please, may I finish?" he said, reaching towards me. I thought, for a moment, that he was going to touch my arm again, to still me, but he just let his hand hover there in the space between us.

"They tell me it's a free country," I mumbled, trudging through wet grass towards the English building. "Not that I'm convinced."

"I heard you were going to Seattle," Edward said. I wondered what lie he would feed me if I asked how he had heard that. Would he say he had been standing next to me when I declined Eric's offer? Or would he say that Tyler had told him? As if Edward ever spoke to anyone but his siblings other than, occasionally, me. I decided not to ask, merely slanted a glance at him, both eyebrows raised, waiting for him to get to the point. "I was wondering if you might like a ride."

"From who?" I asked.

"From me, of course," Edward said as if it were obvious. I supposed, in the context of the conversation, that it was.

I stopped dead in my tracks, and so did he, turning to face me fully. "But... _why_?"

"Because I doubt your truck could make it there on one tank of gas, and my car can." He certainly had me there, but his ever-changing moods were giving me whiplash.

"I thought you didn't want to be friends," I said, staring at him dumbly.

"No, Bella, I never said that," he said gently, shaking his head. "I said…"

"I know what you said!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. "Apparently it's _safer_ for me not to be your friend. What changed?"

There was a beat of silence during which we just stared at each other. He appeared to be mulling something over. Finally, he spoke slowly, deliberately, enunciating each word clearly. "I find it very … difficult … to keep my distance from you, Bella. I've decided it's a useless pursuit."

"So, what? We're friends now?" I asked, watching his face closely, so I saw that cautious look flash into his expression before he turned thoughtful.

"Friends." He spoke it uncertainly, like it was a foreign word, like he was tasting it on his tongue for the first time. A small, wry smile formed on his lips, but this one wasn't fleeting; it stayed in place. "I suppose so, on a provisional basis."

I scoffed in disbelief, pushed my wet hair back from my face again, and continued my trek towards the English building, sure that he would continue to follow me. I had no idea what to say; I just couldn't get a handle on this guy.

"So?" Edward said, interrupting my confused thoughts. "Will you allow me to drive you to Seattle next weekend?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," I said. "Will you answer some of my questions?"

He hesitated, and answered very carefully. "I can't promise you that."

"Figures," I mumbled, and then smirked at him. "I guess I'll just have keep theorizing to myself."

"You have theories?" he said as we neared the building.

"Of course," I said. What else was I supposed to do but theorize when I stared at my ceiling at night, unable to sleep? Besides touch myself? I did a lot of theorizing.

"Will you share some of them with me?" he asked.

"Well, Edward," I said, reaching out to open the door, but his hand was there first, holding it open for me. I smiled tauntingly as I crossed the threshold. "I can't promise you that."

He laughed, full and loud, showing off his perfect, bright white teeth. The sound and sight of him was absolutely mesmerizing. It was with great effort that I walked away from him, my legs trembling slightly, my heart racing.

"Bella," he said as I started down the hall. I paused and looked at him over my shoulder. He was still holding the door open and a few more people were rushing past him, glancing curiously between the two of us. "It _is_ still unwise for us to be friends."

"It's a good thing I never claimed to be wise," I said. "I'd hate to be a hypocrite."

Then, shaking his head, he released the door and took a step back. On a deep, almost disappointed sigh, he said, "Then I'll see you at lunch."

The girl passing me stared at me with wide eyes and a gaping jaw. I ducked my head and hurried into my classroom, certain that word of my interaction with Edward would be all over school by the end of the hour.

I wasn't wrong. By the time Jessica and I walked out of Trig to head to lunch, I had overheard my name whispered right along side Edward's more times than I could count. It was one thing, I guessed, when we were speaking during Biology – it was allowable, expected, even since we sat not a foot apart at the same small table – but not when we walked together and spoke between classes. Not when he smiled and laughed and teased me, and held doors for me. Not when people were still talking about how I'd turned down three dates from three different classmates in one day last week.

"Edward is staring again," Jessica said nonchalantly, but there was a slight slant to her eyes that let me know it bothered her a bit. I could only imagine what she thought. _Why you? What is it about you that drives all the boys here crazy?_

It was something that gnawed at me, too. I couldn't answer for the normal boys of Forks. Probably it was just that I was the only girl they hadn't known since infancy. As for Edward, though, well, like I'd told him earlier: I had my theories.

"What is with that guy?" Mike grumbled from Jessica's other side.

She had called me after school the day I'd skipped school to let me know that Mike had accepted her invitation to the dance. She knew, of course, that he had asked me before accepting – everyone seemed to know as soon as it happened – but I didn't think she was trying to prove a point. She just seemed genuinely excited and wanted to share it with me.

Mike hadn't exactly been avoiding me, but he wasn't going out of his way to walk me to class anymore, and he usually chose to sit next to Jessica at lunch even if the seat next to me was still empty. It was refreshing, to say the least. Apparently, though, he still didn't like that Edward seemed interested in me, in whatever way.

I looked over my shoulder to the table in the corner where he always sat with his siblings. I saw with a jolt that his little pixie sister, Alice, was staring at me, a small smile on her lips. Her boyfriend was looking, too, but he wasn't smiling; his face was expressionless. Edward wasn't sitting with them, however. I looked away quickly, noticed that Mike and Jessica were looking at the opposite side of the room, and followed the direction of their gaze.

And there he was, sitting alone at the far end of a long table, looking right at me. A large group of seniors occupied the majority of the table, but there were several empty spots between him and them. His lips quirked up when our eyes met and I just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I wonder why he's sitting all alone today," Jessica said.

"Yeah, weird," I said, but I knew that he was expecting me to join him even before he lifted his chin in a silent gesture toward the seat across from him.

 _I'll see you at lunch_ , he'd said this morning. I hadn't really thought anything of it; didn't we have a habit of watching each other across the cafeteria? Apparently, though, he had other plans for today.

"Does he mean _you_?" Jessica demanded, looking awed, and a bit jealous.

"Um, yeah. I guess we're kind of friends." As of about four hours ago. I shrugged awkwardly and stood up. "I'd better go see what he wants."

"Friends? But he's been giving you the silent treatment in Bio for weeks, Bella!" Mike protested with a deep frown.

"Don't be dramatic." I didn't want to address why Mike was aware of what I was doing in Biology when he sat several tables in front of me. I just shook my head with a slight, awkward grimace and picked up my tray. "I'll see you guys later."

It was probably just my imagination, but I felt like everyone in the cafeteria was staring at me as I slid into the seat across from Edward. I set my tray on the table in front of me, but was too nervous to so much as pick at my food. I placed my hands in my lap under the table, the thumb of my left hand anxiously massaging my right palm.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Thank you for joining me," Edward said, still smiling serenely, like he was unaware of or unaffected by the stares we were getting.

"What are friends for?" I mumbled.

"What, indeed," Edward said just as softly.

Desperate for something to occupy my hands, but suddenly feeling too weak to eat, I twisted open my bottle of water and took a large gulp. We lapsed into a short span of silence before I couldn't handle all the stares anymore.

"Does it not bother you that everyone is staring at us?" I demanded. He hadn't looked away from my face since I'd noticed him, but I knew he was aware of all the attention.

"It's not often they see me socializing." He smiled wryly and shrugged, reaching across the table to swipe my bottle cap and setting it spinning it on its side. "Besides, most of them are more concerned with you."

"Yeah, because you're so uninteresting," I said sarcastically.

He smiled that alluring half smile with another small shrug. "My family and I, we try not to draw too much attention."

"You don't succeed," I informed him.

Edward smiled indulgently. "We do better than you may realize, Bella."

It was with a shock of embarrassment that I realized that maybe he was right. Maybe most people weren't so aware of every odd little thing about the Cullens, about this one in particular. Maybe I was the only one who was so aware of him, so drawn to him. Maybe everyone else just thought the Cullens were strange and left it at that.

Edward seemed to already know this, and that was the truly humiliating part. Did he know that I laid awake most nights, restlessly thinking about him? Imagining his face? Wondering what he was doing? If he was thinking of me? Trying to figure out what, exactly, was so strange about him? Touching myself and wishing my hands were his?

I thought it couldn't just be me because Jessica always noticed him looking at me at lunch, and Mike took the time to notice the change in his demeanor in Biology. But, I was the one to ask Jessica about him that first day here, wasn't I? And wasn't she just commenting on his weird behavior _towards me_? Same with Mike. They never mentioned how he moved so fluidly, was stronger than any seventeen year-old boy ought to be. They hadn't seen him in the parking lot that day before Tyler Crowley had almost hit me with his van, hadn't noticed how quickly he reached me.

I was the only one who paid so much attention to him. It was a jolt to the system to realize this. I put my face in my hands and groaned.

"Don't worry, Bella," he said when I didn't speak for several minutes. His tone was reassuring and when I looked up at him with wide, embarrassed eyes, his expression was that of utmost sincerity. "I pay far too much attention to you, too."

"To my detriment?" I guessed weakly.

"Precisely." His chuckle was humorless and he tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Will you tell me one theory?"

"Will you answer one question?" I retorted.

After a long pause, he leaned forward. "Ask the question, and I'll decide whether or not to answer."

"Fair," I said, then bit my lip thoughtfully and looked down at my tray, picking at my hamburger bun. I looked up and realized he was watching me with frustration, his hands curling over the edge of the table as he leaned even closer to me. I held up a finger. "I have to choose the right question."

"Fine," he said, then sighed and sat back in his seat with what looked like great effort and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay," I said after a lengthy internal deliberation. He hadn't moved a muscle in the several minutes it had taken me to decide what to ask, but he mirrored my posture when I leaned across the table on my forearms. "Why haven't I ever seen you eat anything?"

He was silent for half a second too long. Editing, I knew, his response.

"I'm on a special diet. Very restrictive," he said, speaking quickly.

"What kind of diet?" I asked.

"One question, Bella. One question, one theory," Edward reminded me with a small, self-satisfied smile.

"It was a half answer," I argued, scowling.

His response was immediate, as if he'd known I wouldn't accept his answer. "But it wasn't a lie, so you owe me a theory."

"Fine," I snapped and tossed him a throwaway theory I had already given up on as the bell rang. "Kryptonite."

He scoffed, his eyes rolling. "You can do better than that."

"You're right. I can, and I have, but your shitty answer doesn't inspire me to share my top theory," I told him, standing up. I paused when he made no move to follow. "Are you coming?"

"I'm not going to Biology today," he told me, picking up the cap from my water bottle again and twirling it in his fingers now.

"Well, I'm not ditching," I said, anxious knots forming in my belly just at the thought. A whole day, I could wrap my mind around, but one class? That would be too difficult to explain if questioned.

"See you later, then," he said, sparing me a tight smile before putting all of his attention back on the bit of plastic he was holding.

I lingered for a second, wondering if he was upset with me, if he _wanted_ me to stay with him, but the room had almost completely emptied, and I hated to be late, so I turned and hurried away from him. He was still sitting there, watching me again with an unreadable expression when I turned to glance at him through the window. I sighed and rushed to class.

When I left the science building an hour later, Mike laughing by my side, he was there, leaning against the building under the narrow awning just out of the rain and looking like some sort of unfairly attractive male model with his windswept, slightly damp hair tumbling messily over his forehead. Mike spotted Edward almost as soon as I did, and scowled.

"See you in Gym, Bella," he muttered, waving at me with a bandaged hand as he walked away, assuming Edward would want to talk to me.

He was right. Edward fell into step beside me, glancing me over warily before he closed the distance between us. It almost looked to me like he was cautiously scenting the air between us.

"You missed an exciting lesson," I said when he failed to actually greet me. "We did blood typing."

"I already know my blood type," Edward said with a frown.

"So do I. Mr. Banner didn't make me prick my finger," I told him.

"Lucky for you," he said seriously, but I saw his shoulders relax.

"Yeah," I laughed. "I'm not the biggest fan of blood _or_ needles."

He seemed to find that funny, chuckling and shaking his head. We were silent, then, while we trudged through the rain towards the Gym. I wasn't about to run, considering I had a tendency to fall whenever I ran, and Edward didn't seem to be in a hurry to get out of the rain.

He opened the door for me, but stopped me after I had gone in from the rain. "Bella, about your theory earlier… I'm not one of the heroes."

"I didn't really think you were," I told him, shrugging. "It's not all black and white, Edward. It's not all heroes and villains."

He looked confused and frustrated, but he didn't say anything. With one last, small smile for him, I turned and walked away.

I was surprised to see him leaning against the wall inside the Gym when I emerged from the locker room after a disastrous hour of trying to stay out of the way during a game of volleyball. It was been annoying when it was Mike doing this, when it was Mike who was determined to meet me after classes we didn't even have together, but I found I didn't mind so much when Edward did it. He was looking right at me, an amused smile playing at his lips as if he had just heard a silly joke, but there was no one standing near enough for that to be the case.

"Hey," I said, approaching him uncertainly. "What's up?"

"How was Gym?" he asked, humor dancing in his dark eyes.

"Fine," I lied, avoiding his gaze. I clutched nervously at the strap of my book bag, tugging it more securely over my shoulder. "Did you need something?"

"I wanted to let you know that I won't be at school tomorrow," he said.

"Oh, is everything okay?" I asked. The depth of my despair that I wouldn't get to see him until Monday was embarrassing.

"Yes, my family and I are just taking advantage of the good weather to go camping," he told me. "We'll be gone most of the weekend."

"Oh. Well, that should be nice. I hope you have a good time." I _did_ hope he had a good time, I just wished I wouldn't have to wait three days to see him because of it. When he continued to watch me, I shifted my weight to my back leg and peered up at him. "Was there something else?"

"I was just wondering what your plans were for the weekend," he said, tilting his head curiously. He was doing that weird thing again, staring so intently into my eyes that I felt certain he was trying to pick the answer right out of my thoughts.

"Oh," I said slowly, though my heart started to race as it usually did around him. I knew he wasn't about to invite me to do anything with him, but it sure sounded like it. "Um. I don't really have any plans. Why?"

"I was just wondering," Edward said again. "How do you usually spend your weekends?"

"I don't know," I said, biting my lip. Sometimes Jacob and Billy came to our house for dinner and to catch a game on TV, but that had only happened a handful of times. "I guess I usually just read. And talk to my friend Madison."

"In Phoenix?" he clarified.

"Yeah," I said, realizing how pathetic it was. I had a group of friends here in Forks, despite my original reluctance to put down roots here, and yet I spent my weekends alone in my room with a book and my cell phone. But then I remembered that I was Edward's only friend outside of his family, so it wasn't like he had an overwhelming social life either. "What do you do on the weekends?"

"Oh, this and that," he said dismissively. Then, without looking away from me, "I think your friends are trying to get your attention."

"You _are_ my friend now," I reminded him, but looked over my shoulder to see Mike and Jessica edging cautiously closer to us.

"Oh, hey, Bella!" Jessica said when she saw that I had noticed them.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" I said.

"We're going surfing on Sunday, a whole group of us. If you want to come, we're meeting at my dad's store in the morning," Mike said with a furtive glance at Edward, who was still standing beside me, as if he was hoping Edward wouldn't think _he_ was invited, too.

"We're all carpooling down to First Beach," Jessica added. "You should come, it's going to be so fun!"

Something told me that Jessica would think anything Mike wanted to do was _so fun_. I smiled and shrugged half-heartedly. "Yeah, surfing? Probably not a good idea for me. You guys have fun, though."

"Well, if you change your mind…" Mike said, trailing off with another glance at Edward.

"See you, Bella," Jessica said with a wave as she turned to follow Mike to the parking lot.

I turned back to face Edward and froze, wide-eyed. He was studying me intently, but that didn't have anything to do with why I wheeled back around and rushed to catch them before they reached the door. "Wait! Did you say First Beach? Isn't that in La Push? Near the Quileute Reservation?"

They both turned to look at me hopefully.

"Yeah," Jessica said brightly. "It's the best beach in the area."

"Do you know it?" Mike asked.

"I know _of_ it. I've never been there before. I just… a family friend lives out there on the Res." An image of Jacob Black, lanky with a long silky ponytail, in my kitchen putting away dishes came to mind.

_The Cullens just don't have a very good reputation down on the Res. People think they're strange._

He said those exact words to me, and he'd done so reluctantly. I'd known even at the time that he wasn't even beginning to scratch the surface of what his people thought of the Cullens, but his father had interrupted before I could push for more.

"You know what?" I said. It was time to get some answers, whether or not Edward wanted me to have them. "I think I will come with you guys."

"Awesome!" Mike said brightly. "Think you can make it to my dad's store for eight?"

"Yeah, sure," I said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Let me know if the plan changes."

"We were talking about all driving up to Port Angeles after to catch a movie, too," Jessica said, excitement twinkling in her eyes. I could only guess that she was imagining sitting next to Mike in a dark theater, hoping he would make a move.

"Sounds great," I said. I smiled when they both looked awkwardly over my shoulder and waited until they walked away before I turned around.

Edward had followed me to the door and was eyeing me warily when I faced him again. "You're going surfing?"

"No, obviously not. I'd probably drown," I said dismissively, and started out of the building some distance behind Mike and Jessica. "I'll just hang out on the beach."

"It's not exactly the best beach for sunbathing," he told me, catching up to me quickly in what seemed like a single long stride. "Or the time of year for it."

"Oh, have you been before?" I asked innocently.

"No," he admitted, and I could see from the corner of my eye that he looked uneasy. "I just know of it."

"Hmm," I said, pulling up my hood against the light rain as I started across the parking lot. His car was parked right next to the gym entrance, but he followed close beside me as I made my way to my truck at the back of the lot. Suddenly, I was feeling very bold. "Well, I would invite you to come along and see for yourself, but your family isn't really welcome in La Push, are you?"

He glared at me, clearly upset that I knew something he didn't think I should. Then after a pause, he admitted, "No."

He didn't say anything else, though when I stopped to open the door to my truck, I could see there was a lot he wanted to say; it was written plain on his face. I looked at him expectantly, but he kept his mouth stubbornly shut. Sighing, I shook my head and got in my truck.

"If you won't give me my answers," I said in a low voice, rolling down my window to speak to him, "I'll just get them from someone else."

"Careful, Bella," Edward warned, leaning in close, his hands firm on the door on either side of my window. The look in his eyes was wary, concerned. "You may have your theories, but you don't really know what you're doing here."

"I told you. I know more than you think," I said, shrugging helplessly. I had also told him time and again that all I wanted was the truth. "I'll see you Monday, Edward."

He stood up straight when I started to back out of my spot, and I could see him watching me drive away, a conflicted, alarmed expression on his face, until I pulled out onto the highway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I couldn't just leave out the beloved bloodtesting scene altogether, but it didn't fit right if I left it exactly the same lol.  
> Edward has begun to lean hard into his feelings here, and Bella's scheming! She's determined to figure out what he's keeping from her.  
> Thanks so much for reading! Please, let me know what you think. :)
> 
> Next up:  
>  _Chapter 6. First Beach._
> 
> _"Ah," he groaned, rolling his eyes. "Fine, but keep in mind I don't believe any of this, okay? Just don't think I'm crazy."_
> 
> _"Scout's honor," I said sagely._
> 
> _"You don't really expect me to believe you were a Girl Scout?" Jacob said, looking at me like I was crazy. I shoved him away playfully, and he laughed. "Okay, okay."_


	7. Chapter 6. First Beach.

Renee was inconceivably excited when I told her I was going out with friends on Sunday. She probably thought it meant that I was finally starting to like it here; that I was finally starting to fit it. I wondered what she would think if I told her I was just going to get information to satisfy my morbid curiosity. Honestly, though, I didn’t think it would make any bit of difference to her, so long as I was getting out of the house on the weekend, so long as I was socializing.

“You going to see Jacob while you’re down there?” Charlie asked when he heard I was going to be in La Push. “I’m sure he’d like that.”

“Maybe,” I said. I didn’t want to tell Charlie that I was actually only going in the hopes of seeing Jacob. He and Renee would probably think I was interested in him. “If he’s around.”

“He’s a nice boy,” Renee said loftily. “If you invited him, I’m sure he would go.”

I rolled my eyes. So, they would _definitely_ think I was interested in Jacob if I said why I was really going. The fact that he was two years younger than me didn’t seem to bother them at all. I remembered Madison saying that two years was nothing if a guy was cute, but I personally felt like two years was a lot when it separated fifteen and seventeen. I wondered what Charlie and Renee would say if I told them about the guy I was actually interested in, if they knew about the feats of superhuman strength and speed, the fascinating mysteries surrounding him. It was really best that they didn’t know about my relationship, as it were, with Edward Cullen.

“Yeah, Jake’s a good friend,” I allowed and emphasized the word _friend_ as I pushed around a pile of too-dry mashed potatoes on my plate. “But my other friends might feel weird if I invited someone they don’t know.”

I could just imagine Mike’s face if some guy he’d never even seen met up with me at the beach trip he had invited me to. Not that I particularly cared about hurting Mike’s feelings like that; I just didn’t want to deal with the drama. Now, if I just so happened to run into Jacob? That was a completely different story.

“Well, do you like any of the boys who are going with you?” Renee asked, and both she and Charlie tried very hard to appear nonchalant.

“No,” I said with a grimace.

“Do you like _any_ of the boys in town?” Charlie asked.

“Really?” I rolled my eyes. “You want to talk about boys?”

“Yes!” Renee exclaimed.

“No, I guess not really,” Charlie said at the same time.

“No, I don’t like any of the boys in town,” I said, which I thought was technically true. As far as I knew, the Cullens didn’t live in town; I didn’t know exactly where they did live, but Jessica had said it was somewhere relatively secluded.

“Want another beer?” I offered, getting up and heading to the fridge in an attempt to change the subject. Renee shot me a look that told me plainly that she knew what I was up to, but Charlie seemed to appreciate the distraction.

Sunday morning, as planned, Renee dropped me off at Newton’s Olympic Outfitters in town. I remembered Mike saying there was big group going, but I was still surprised to see so many of my classmates milling around in front of the store. Mike, Jessica, Angela Weber, and Eric were the only ones who I really considered friends. I also saw Lauren Mallory and Tyler Crowley, both of whom I planned to avoid if I could, standing with Lee Stephens and his girlfriend Samantha and a few other people whose names I didn’t know.

Luckily, Mike spotted me and waved me over.

“Hey, Bella! Glad you could make it!” he said excitedly. “You can ride with us if you want!”

Considering the other option was Lee’s mom’s van and it looked like Tyler and Lauren would be riding with him, I did want. I was glad when Jessica, Angela, Eric, and a nice quiet boy named Ben all piled into Mike’s car before me. I got along with all of them, which would make this a pleasant enough car ride.

Or so I thought. Eric and Ben sat in the backseat talking about a video game they both played while Angela and I sat quietly in the middle row of seats. Jessica was very pleased to find herself alone in the front seat next to Mike.

When we were about halfway there, Jessica whipped around in the front seat, her seat belt stretching to cover the movement as she turned to look at me. “Okay I swore I wasn’t going to bring this up, but are you going to prom with Tyler?”

“What? No!” I said, and frowned. I could see Mike staring at me through the rearview mirror, and I felt the weight of Eric’s stare on the back of my head. “Why would you think that?”

“I told you not to believe him. He and Bella never even talk,” Angela said softly and I felt a warm surge of affection for her. She was, quite possibly, the sweetest girl in Forks.

“Believe him? What do you mean?” I remembered him saying that we still had prom back when I told him I wouldn’t go to the Girls’ Choice with him, but there was no way he really believed we would go to prom together.

“Tyler’s been telling everyone that he’s taking you to prom, and that you agreed to go with him,” Jessica said with a barely-suppressed laugh.

“Everyone?” I exclaimed, thinking with horror of Edward Cullen. “But that’s not true at all! I said I didn’t want to go to Girls’ Choice with him, why would he think I want to go prom with him?”

I remembered that there were two other boys I had refused to go to Girls’ Choice with sitting in the car with me. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the car was very awkward.

“Don’t worry about it,” Angela said. “I don’t think anyone really believes him.”

“They better not,” I said darkly, still thinking about Edward.

Jessica giggled and turned back around and I had a sneaking suspicion that she had a good idea why the idea of Tyler telling everyone were going to prom together upset me so much. Angela sent me a reassuring smile and turned around to talk to Eric and Ben, leaving me to stew privately.

By the time we pulled up and parked, I had managed to calm myself down a bit. Like Angela said, it was very likely that no one believed him because, apart from turning him down for the upcoming dance, I’d never spoken to him. Besides, Edward clearly knew that I paid more attention to him than any other guy, and he’d admitted that he paid just as much attention to me, which meant that even if he did hear about Tyler’s claim, he probably wouldn’t believe it.

I glanced around when we all piled out of the car and waited for Lee to park next to us. To my dismay, the beach was relatively empty save for a small group of people walking up the beach in our direction. I was starting to think there was no way I was going to just happen upon Jacob Black here.

We were milling around between Mike’s dad’s suburban and Lee’s mom’s van and everyone but me was pulling on wetsuits and checking their boards when the group of local kids walked past us on the beach.

“You sure you don’t want to join us, Bella? I brought an extra wetsuit,” Angela offered kindly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the local boys turn to look in our direction, his long black hair whipping in the wind. My heart soared when I recognized him; somehow, my luck was looking up.

“No, I’m safer on land,” I reminded her as the boy broke away from his friends and started jogging towards us.

“Bella! Hey, what are you doing here, girl?” Jacob asked, striding confidently into the circle of my friends. He didn’t seem to care that everyone stared at him as he leaned up against Lee’s van right next to me, as if he belonged there.

“Oh, hey Jake. I didn’t expect to see you here,” I lied with a wide smile for him. “Guys, this is Jacob Black. These are my friends from school.”

“Oh, is this your family friend?” Mike asked, looking Jacob up and down. It seemed like he looked a bit relieved to see that he was noticeably younger than us.

“I guess that’s me,” Jacob said. “Our dads are friends.”

“When they’re not at each other’s throats like an old married couple,” I added.

Jacob laughed and turned, grinning, to face me. “No wetsuit? You’re not surfing?”

“Oh, I’m not trying to die today, Jake,” I said, laughing. He joined in freely. I saw Mike’s easy smile fade into worry as he watched us.

“Yeah, you almost drowned washing dishes in the sink last time I was over,” Jacob said. I scoffed and gave him a playful shove in the side.

“Hey, you should keep Bella company,” Jessica suggested, glancing quickly between Jacob and me.

“Yeah, her date bailed,” said Lauren snidely. I remembered quite suddenly that she was the girl Jessica had told me used to like Edward.

“Date?” Eric said with a sharp, pained glance in my direction.

“I never had a date,” I said quickly, flushing and glaring at Jessica and Mike, one of whom had to be behind the _date_ rumor. “You guys were the ones talking about it so openly in front of him.”

“Whatever, Cullen’s a freak anyway,” Mike muttered.

I almost jumped to his defense before realizing that if Jacob heard me defending Edward, he would be less likely to tell me what I needed to know. I glanced at him and saw from the hard set of his jaw that he caught the name.

“Hey, Edward’s always been polite,” Angela chimed in at my other side. “No one ever invites him anywhere, and it’s not fair. I think it’s really nice that Bella thought to include him.”

I hadn’t actually invited him, but someone must have heard me taunting him about it in the parking lot after Mike and Jessica invited me.

“How is anyone supposed to invite him places? It’s not like he ever talks to anyone,” Lee said.

“Except Bella,” said Tyler. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, grateful when Angela and Jessica started herding everyone else out to the ocean.

“You don’t have to hang out with me if you don’t want to,” I told Jacob when we were alone, but when I looked around, the group of boys he’d been with was gone.

“I don’t mind,” he said with a small smile.

“Well, thanks. I’ll be really glad for your company,” I said, offering him a small smile that I hoped came off as moderately flirty. “Hey, do you want to walk around or something?”

“So… Cullen? Your _not date_?” Jacob asked as we started off down the beach. I didn’t think I was imagining the red creeping up the back of his neck.

“ _So_ not my date.” I laughed awkwardly, shaking my head and tucking my hair behind my ears. “Edward’s just my lab partner in biology. Mike doesn’t like him. He thinks he’s weird.”

“What do you think?” Jacob asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and glancing at me sidelong.

“He’s just a guy in my class, Jake,” I said with a shrug, trying to downplay it. Edward said that we were provisionally friends, but it seemed to me that we were dangling on the precipice of something more, but that would depend on what I was able to get out of Jacob today and how Edward would react when I inevitably confronted him about it. “I don’t really know much about him.”

We walked in companionable silence for a while. Looking sideways at him, I saw that he looked contemplative, a look I hadn’t really seen on him before. He looked at me then, and I smiled at him. He grinned back easily. “What?”

“I was just remembering,” I said hesitantly. “Didn’t you say something about the Cullens a couple months ago? When you and your dad came over for dinner that first time? You guys don’t like them? What’s that about?”

“I told you it was just a stupid story, Bella,” he said with an uncomfortable little laugh.

“I like stupid stories,” I told him, and that wasn’t a lie.

“I’m really not supposed to talk about it. I could get in big trouble if anyone found out I was sharing our secrets with outsiders,” he said, nudging me playfully.

I laughed, trying to make it sound like a flirtatious giggle as I glanced sideways at him. “I can keep a secret, Jake. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Ah,” he groaned, rolling his eyes. “Fine, but keep in mind I don’t believe any of this, okay? Just don’t think I’m crazy.”

“Scout’s honor,” I said sagely.

“You don’t really expect me to believe you were a Girl Scout?” Jacob said, looking at me like I was crazy. I shoved him away playfully, and he laughed. “Okay, okay.”

“We call them the _cold ones_ ,” he started, and the low timbre of his voice, and the memory of Edward’s cold hands on me when he’d saved me, and when he’d tucked my hair behind my ear a couple weeks ago made me shiver. My reaction seemed to please Jacob, who continued. “The legend is as old as the legend of the wolves … did you know we’re supposedly descended from wolves?”

I shook my head.

“Do you know who Ephraim Black was?” Jacob asked. He didn’t look surprised when I just shook my head again. “He was my great-grandfather, and he was a tribe elder, at times serving as the Chief of the Quileutes. He was the most powerful Spirit Warrior and he led the rest of the Spirit Warriors charged with protecting the Quileutes from enemies.”

He laughed. “The _cold_ _ones_ are the only natural enemies of we wolf men – you may be more comfortable with the term _werewolves_. In the older stories our ancestors, the Spirit Warriors, were tasked to defend from the _cold_ _ones_ , monsters who looked like men, but stronger and more beautiful, and who wanted nothing but to kill humans and gorge themselves on their blood.

“A group of them came here in Ephraim Black’s time, and were discovered hunting on our land. But they claimed to be different than others of their kind. They claimed not to hunt humans. They claimed only to hunt animals, game no different than we ourselves might hunt for food. They weren’t supposed to be dangerous to humans. So my great-grandfather and the other tribe elders made a deal with them, a peace treaty. If they stayed off our lands, and truly bit no humans, we wouldn’t expose them for what they really were.”

“If they weren’t dangerous, then why force them out of your territory?” I asked.

“Well, the thought was that, if they’re denying their nature, how long until the temptation grows too strong to resist?” Jacob said.

I remembered Emmett’s strong hand seemingly holding Edward in place in the cafeteria as I walked past their table.

“The terms of the treaty were simple: the Quileutes would expose the _cold ones_ if they ever hunted humans, but we would keep their secret if they did not; they could never come on our land, and we could never speak of what we knew.”

“Fair. But how does this all tie into the Cullens?” I said, but I already knew, didn’t I? “They’re, what? Another group of _cold_ _ones_?”

“No, Bella,” Jacob said gravely, and I could see that he was playing it up for my benefit. “They’re the _same group_ that Ephraim Black dealt with.”

We walked in silence for a long moment. I could feel Jacob’s gaze on the side of my face, expectantly watching for my reaction, but I was frantically thinking this through. If Edward’s family was the same group that Jacob’s great grandfather had met, completely unchanged, how old did that make them? At least eighty. Older, even.

“So you’re descended from werewolves? Which would make the _cold_ _ones_ … the Cullens, if you believe it… what? Vampires?” I said when I knew the silence had stretched on for too long, forcing a laugh despite the fact that he had all but confirmed my most likely theory. Just saying the word aloud made me shiver. “You’re right, Jacob. That is a pretty far-fetched story.”

“Right?” Jacob laughed, shaking his head. “It’s ridiculous.”

“Beyond,” I agreed, but it wasn’t. Not at all. “So. Are you a Spirit Warrior? Like Ephraim Black?”

He laughed again, and threw his head back with mirth. “Well, I guess we’ll find out soon.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Legend says the first change typically takes place sometime between the Spirit Warrior’s fifteenth and sixteenth birthday, and only if there are _cold ones_ near,” he told me, a wicked glint in his eyes.

I jumped and laughed when he suddenly bared his teeth and snapped them at me with an audible, painful-sounding _click_. “Get away from me, Wolf Boy!”

Jacob was easy company then, answering all of my questions about life on the Reservation with an openness that I found very refreshing. It was starting to get dark by the time my other friends came to find me by the cars where Jacob and I were both siting on the hood of Mike’s dad’s Suburban. Apparently, the boys were too cold to keep surfing, and they wanted to know if I still wanted to catch a movie in Port Angeles.

“Hey, you don’t want to come along, do you?” I said to Jacob. I saw Lauren roll her eyes behind his back, and Mike looked at me sharply.

“Thanks, Bella, but I should get back to my other friends,” he said, hugging me easily. I was surprised at how firm and warm his chest was. Over his shoulder, I saw that the group he’d been with this morning had returned. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you,” I said, laughing and watching him walk away towards his catcalling friends.

“Oh, hey, Jacob?” He turned to look at me, arching his eyebrows in silent question. “Thanks, again. For, you know, the stories?”

He rolled his eyes, laughing, and walked away, waving at me over his shoulder.

Mike caught me before I could climb into his Suburban after Jessica and Angela.

“What’s up, Mike?” I asked.

“Is that guy like your boyfriend or something?” he said.

“Jacob?” I laughed awkwardly. I was pretty sure now that Jacob was at least beginning to see me as more than a friend, but he was just a friend to me. I liked him, and I liked talking to him, but I didn’t feel that pull that meant he might one day be more. It wasn’t like magnetism being around him; it was just nice. “No, our dads are best friends.”

“Oh, cool.” Mike didn’t even try to hide the relief in his voice, and that brought a flash of aggravation and discomfort to my chest. “Look, I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” I asked reluctantly.

“Well, I know you said you’re not going to the dance next weekend,” he started. He either didn’t notice or completely ignored the sharp look I sent his way. “And I heard that you’re actually going to Seattle instead.”

“Yeah, what about it?” I demanded.

“I guess I was just wondering if maybe instead of going to the dance together, we could hang out some other time. Just the two of us,” he said. He was very confident for a boy asking out a girl who was glaring at him. “Like a date.”

“Mike…” I began.

“We could grab dinner or something,” he offered, oblivious to my tone. “Or we could go to this paintball place my cousin told me about. He said it’s really cool and I figured…”

“Look, Mike,” I said through gritted teeth. “Listen to me carefully, because I don’t want to have this conversation again.”

“Bella, what’s wrong?” There was a confused, questioning look in his eyes.

“I said _listen_. That requires silence on your part,” I snapped. When his mouth snapped shut with an audible, shocked _click_ , I took a deep breath and finally said what I should have said weeks ago. “You’re my _friend_ , Mike. And so is Jessica. I’m not breaking any rules here by saying that she likes you because you clearly already know she does.”

When he opened his mouth, looked like he was going to argue, I shook my head and held up a hand to cut him off.

“You have to stop this. I can’t handle it anymore. I tried to be nice when I turned you down for the dance, but clearly that didn’t work. I’m done being polite, so I guess I’ve got to move on to direct. I don’t have feelings for you, Mike. I don’t want to date you. That’s not going to change.”

He looked crestfallen, and I would have felt bad if he hadn’t been the catalyst of the most frustrating two hours of my life a couple weeks ago.

“If you don’t have feelings for Jess, tell her that, but stop trying to use me as a buffer, and for the love of God, stop asking me out. You don’t even really like me! You started with this puppy dog shit the moment you met me and you haven’t let up. I am _not_ a shiny new toy and I am _not_ going to lose two friends because one of them can’t stop idealizing me as the perfect person I am _not_.”

I did like him. He was a decent friend, and he had helped me out a lot during my first week, more than I’d realized I needed. I didn’t like having to hurt him, and I didn’t want to lose him as a friend but I knew he needed to hear this because if things continued this way, I _was_ going to lose both him and Jessica. Wasn’t the stupid situation with Dylan and Alana back in Phoenix basically the same thing? Only this time, the guy actually did think he had feelings for me.

“If you can’t accept that, then I’m sorry, but we can’t be friends anymore. I am not going to let you use me to hurt Jessica. She’s _right there_ , Mike. Do you not care about her feelings at all?”

I toyed with the idea of riding with Lee, but Lauren was riding with him and she wasn’t very subtle about not liking me, and Tyler was sitting in the back seat next to her. There was a good chance I was either going to punch him tonight or total his brand new car in the morning in payment for the prom rumors.

So, with a sigh, I climbed into the middle row next to Angela and closed the door behind me. The hour and a half ride to Port Angeles was uncomfortable, to say the least. Mike was silent and grouchy in the driver’s seat, and Jessica couldn’t stop loudly asking me about my _friend_ Jacob. Angela was my only saving grace; she seemed to read the mood in the car and promptly distracted Jessica by talking about the kind of dress she was planning to wear to the dance.

It was nothing, however, compared to how awkward it was when we got close to the theater, walking in a big group from the parking spots we’d found several blocks down. Mike stopped dead in his tracks, and poor Angela walked right into his back.

“What the hell is _he_ doing here?” he said loudly, ignoring Angela rubbing her nose. Everyone went silent and looked where Mike was looking, then turned to stare at me. My heart stopped. And then skittered to life, pounding faster than the beat of a hummingbird’s wings.

Edward Cullen was walking towards us … towards _me_ … under the dim streetlights, looking like he was trying very hard not to laugh at the looks on my friends’ faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading, and I really hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. Are you guys ready for what’s about to happen? Lol. Let me know what you think!   
> Is everyone excited for Midnight Sun? I’m beginning to worry that I’m not emotionally prepared for it. Edward’s such a dramatic anxious boy and I’m sure every page is going to be bursting with angst lol. I can’t believe it’s only six days away! I’m hoping to get the next chapter up before then!   
> Next update:  
>  _Chapter 7. Out of the Dark.  
>  “Afraid of vampires, Bella?” he asked.   
> I choked on a laugh and had to turn around when he froze, worry flashing to life behind his eyes. Worry over my sanity? Worry that he had said far too much already? Both valid concerns. I walked to the end of the block and sat on a bench under a dim streetlight. _


	8. Chapter 7. Out of the Dark.

Chapter 7. Out of the Dark.

If anyone would have asked me two months ago if I would ever do something more difficult than leave all of my friends, my entire life in Phoenix, and move to small, rainy, dreary Forks, Washington, I would have thought they were insane. But here I was, sitting in a dark movie theatre between my average friends and a boy who I was certain was not human, trying to pretend I was paying attention to the movie Mike had wanted to watch.

It didn't help matters any that Mike had convinced everyone to see _The Lost Boys_ , an old vampire movie the theatre was showing as part of a pre-Halloween blast from the past. Edward had stood near me, a respectable few feet between us, in amused silence during the debate, and followed us into the theatre without comment.

I wasn't afraid to be sitting next to him – and wasn't that insane? I was pretty sure he was a _vampire_ and I wasn't afraid of him at all. I just wanted nothing more than to be able to talk to him, to tell him my theory, ask him my questions, and demand he tell me the truth. If we were going to be friends, he owed me that much. And if he wasn't going to be my friend, was just going to disappear and pretend nothing ever happened? Well, he still owed me.

That, and sitting next to him in the dark, surrounded by couples and people who would soon become couples … I wanted to touch him. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted to feel his cold skin against mine like I had when he'd brushed my hair out of my face last week and when he'd saved my life when Tyler's van seemed bent on ending it. My hands were clenched into fists so tight by my thighs that I feared my nails may cut into my flesh any minute, but that would probably not be a good thing if my theory was correct, so I slowly relaxed my hands.

Edward was in the aisle seat as no one had seemed particularly eager to sit next to him but me. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he looked just as tense as me. He was leaning heavily against the armrest farther away from me, his arms crossed against his chest so tightly I could see the bands of lean muscles straining under the flesh. His gaze was slanted in my direction as well so that when our eyes met, he flashed me a tense smile that I reciprocated as best I could.

It was that magnetism all over again. It was all I could do to keep my distance. I just wanted to be closer to him. I wondered briefly if this was one of the theatres with the seats that had armrests you could raise for optimal cuddling on date nights. The thought made me flush, and I looked away from him when his gaze flickered to my warm cheeks as if he sensed my reaction. He probably did.

I caught Mike's eye. He was sitting toward the middle of the row, next to Jessica. Thankfully, she hadn't yet noticed that he wasn't paying attention to the movie he had chosen, or to her. She, too, was sneaking curious glances my way. I rolled my eyes and leaned in close to Angela, who was sitting next to me.

"I have to get out of here," I whispered just as David tricked Michael into drinking out of a bottle full of vampire blood.

"Okay," she whispered back, a suspicious smile playing on her lips.

I stood up and moved past Edward, who sat up straight, facing the screen, arms still banded across his chest. His eyes were on me, though.

"Walk with me," I murmured. I didn't lean in so he could hear me like I would have for any of my other friends; I knew he had ridiculously good hearing even if he wasn't a vampire.

I walked away before he moved to follow. I was the only reason he was here; I knew he would come with me just as certainly as I knew that most of the people I had come here with were watching us leave together, jumping to their own conclusions about what we were doing.

Huffing out a shaky breath, I hurried out of the theatre, to the lobby, and then out into the fresh air. I didn't turn to look at him until I had made it halfway down the block. He had pulled his jacket back on and was, as predicted, right behind me, a wary look in his eyes.

Night had truly fallen by now, and the temperature had dropped several degrees since we'd gone into the theatre. The wind ripped through my thin white sweater, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Afraid of vampires, Bella?" he asked with a mischievous smile.

I choked on a laugh and had to turn around when he froze, worry flashing to life behind his eyes. Worry over my sanity? Worry that he had said far too much already? Both valid concerns. I walked to the end of the block and sat on a bench under a dim streetlight.

"I thought you wanted to walk," Edward said, stopping several feet away.

I turned my head to look up at him. He looked almost like a figment of my imagination; he was beautiful under the horrible school fluorescents, but here in the night with me under the moon and the hazy streetlight, he was ethereal. His skin seemed to glow and his teeth gleamed impossibly bright as he spoke.

"We walked to the corner, didn't we?" I said, gesturing to the theatre down the block. He just stood there apart from me until I sighed. "Will you please sit down, Edward?"

He did, but he sat as far away from me as he could on the narrow bench. There were only maybe eight inches between us, but it may as well have been a mile. I itched to close the gap between us, but I was pretty sure he would be uncomfortable if I did.

Edward didn't say anything, and I knew it was going to be on me to start the conversation. I weighed my options carefully before I spoke, trying to decide on the best way to get into it.

"Did you have a good time with your family this weekend?" I finally said, deciding it was a safe start.

He looked at me and smiled, dipping his head. "Yes, Bella. It was a very fulfilling trip. Thank you for asking."

"That's good," I said, and I felt my pulse skitter as I worked my way closer to what I really want to talk about. "What are you doing here, Edward?"

"You invited me," he said.

"Not really," I said without thinking, and then rushed to explain myself, not having meant to be rude. "I mean, I'm glad you came! I was really happy to see you, but I didn't invite you. I was trying to get under your skin with the La Push comment because I was annoyed with you and you know that. So, please, what are you really doing here?"

"I wanted to know how your morning went, and it seemed like torture to have wait until tomorrow." His honesty surprised me; I was used to him evading all of my questions by now, and I just stared at him for a few seconds. "Well? Did you get your answers?"

"Just one," I whispered, watching his face carefully. He looked cautious, and curious on top of it. "What does the name Ephraim Black mean to you?"

The only change in his expression was the barest upward tic of his eyebrow. Was he surprised to hear a name he recognized from so long ago?

"And the term _cold ones_ ," I continued when he didn't speak.

"Where did you hear that name? And that term?" he said when he finally did speak.

"I flirted with a fifteen year-old Quileute boy," I said in a rush, surprising a real, bold laugh out of him. "It was easier than I thought it would be," I admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"Of course it was," Edward said once he'd stopped laughing. "You don't realize the effect you have on people."

"Do I have an effect on you?" I asked.

"You have no idea," he said, suddenly serious. Then, on a sigh, "The Quileutes have a long memory."

"You're not going to deny it?" I asked, disbelief warring with utter relief in my chest. "You're just… just like that… you're just going to admit it."

"What would be the point in denying it? You won't give this up," Edward pointed out. "And, besides, I'd already decided to tell you the truth anyway. I thought it would be safer for all involved if you weren't asking anyone and everyone probing questions about my family. I expected you to reach a dead end in La Push, honestly. Part of our agreement was that they wouldn't speak our secret if we did as they asked."

"He's just a kid," I said quickly, suddenly worried for Jacob's safety. I hadn't told Edward who I talked to today, but he had heard me mention a family friend to Mike and Jessica on Thursday; it wouldn't be all that difficult for him to figure it out. "He doesn't even believe the stories. He was joking about it all afterward."

"I'm not upset," Edward assured me, waving away my concern. "As long as he doesn't make a habit of telling every pretty girl who flirts with him."

"Don't worry," I said, blushing at the compliment. "I'm starting to believe you when you say that no one else is quite as… interested… in you as I am."

"Yes, well it's about time you start listening to me," he said, eyes narrowing when I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered again. "You didn't bring a thicker jacket?"

"I did, but it's in Mike's car."

"Here," he said, taking off his supple tan leather jacket.

"Won't you be cold?" I asked as he draped it over my shoulders.

"We don't really experience temperature extremes," he said softly, watching closely for my reaction, but I wasn't that surprised. His hands were so cold the few times he'd touched me.

"Jackets are merely fashion statements to you?" I said, sliding my arms into the sleeves and pulling the material tighter around me. The inside of the jacket felt cold and unworn, and not at all as if a boy had just been wearing it for hours. It smelled incredible. I only just managed to resist taking a nice long whiff of it, of him.

He smiled tentatively. "That, and it helps us fit in better if we dress to match everyone else."

"I hate to tell you this, Edward," I said slowly, " but I don't think many guys in Forks are wearing Belstaff jackets."

I sent him a shy, teasing smile, and he laughed, nodding in acknowledgement. "I suppose that would be where the fashion statement comes in to play."

A car drove past us just then, the headlights washing over us and illuminating us for a moment.

"Your eyes…" I said, unable to look away now that I had noticed. They were the lightest I had ever seen them. "I have a theory about your eyes."

"Another theory, Bella? I've already confirmed the most important one. You can just ask your questions. I'll answer them," he promised. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"I enjoy theorizing," I told him with a small shrug and ducked my head to hide my blush at the intensity of his gaze. "You can confirm or deny."

He smiled and shook his head. "What's your theory?"

"I think… that your eye color depends on how … hungry you are. Or is it thirsty?" I shook my head, losing some confidence with the confusion.

"Whichever you prefer," he said gently. "It doesn't make a difference to me."

"Okay, let's just call it hungry, then," I said, relieved that he didn't seem to take pleasure in my momentary struggle.

"As you like," he allowed with a deep bow of his head.

"So, my theory is that the longer it's been since you've … eaten?" I rolled my eyes, annoyed with myself, and hurried on, "…the darker your eyes and the circles beneath them, and the grumpier you are. But the more recently you've eaten, the lighter they are, and the more likely you are to joke around with me."

Edward looked pleasantly surprised, shaking his head at me. "Bella, I'm afraid I owe you another apology." He smiled when I tilted my head towards him, confused. "I've called you unobservant several times now, and here I come to find you're actually incredibly perceptive."

I smiled at him and continued on, bolstered. "And you only hunt animals? That's what Ja… the boy said."

"Yes, we… resist our nature." At my inquisitive look, he explained. "We aren't like most of our kind. It's in our nature to hunt humans; most would never even think of living the way we do."

"Is that what you were doing?" I asked; part of me felt like his openness wasn't going to last, so I wanted to make sure I got as many answers as I could before he inevitably grew closed off again. I really hoped I was wrong and he would remain an open book to me. "This weekend, with your family. You said you were camping in the nice weather, but were you hunting? I've never seen your eyes so light. You must have eaten recently."

He sent me a crooked smile, sighing again. "Yes, we were hunting. I came here straight after we finished."

"Edward, that day… my first day at school… in the cafeteria," I said slowly, watching him carefully. His eyes tightened at the memory. "Your eyes were black. I'd never seen anything darker in my life. You must have been starving."

"Ah, yes, it had been too long since I had last hunted, but that… was something else altogether," he said, something not unlike a grimace creeping onto his face.

"I thought you were going to kill me," I admitted, biting my lip and twisting my fingers together, anxious again at the mere memory. "If Emmett weren't holding you in place, I was sure…"

"I very nearly did," he whispered, leaning towards me so that I could see the sincerity on his face. "Bella, you have to understand something about me. I have been… what I am… living the way we do… longer than any in my family, save Carlisle… and I have _never_ wanted a human's blood as desperately as I needed yours. Not even when I was new to this second life, when the blood calls the loudest."

"So, what? I smell… _really_ good?" I said, trying to make a joke out of something that was clearly a very serious matter.

"Well, yes," he admitted. "But that's trivializing it in the extreme. Humans in general smell _good_ to us. Your blood… it's a siren's call to me. I have never known temptation like it in my many years."

"Is it like that for your whole family?" I asked, chilled by the idea of all seven of them wanting me dead. "Do I tempt them all?"

"You do smell better than the average human to them. But in the way it is for me? No," he said slowly. "It's just me. It's been known to happen. Occasionally, one of our kind will come across a human whose blood is more alluring than any other's. I've never experienced it before, myself."

I frowned. "It must be very hard on you, to be near me."

Edward laughed, shaking his head at me in disbelief. "Bella, I tell you that I want nothing more than to kill you and feast on your blood, and your concern is for me?"

"Well, clearly you want _something_ more, or we wouldn't be here right now," I said with more confidence than I felt.

"Perhaps you're right," he murmured.

"So, is it?" I asked when he went silent, looking thoughtful.

"What?"

"It is very difficult? For you to be here with me," I said.

"It's like having a white-hot iron rammed down my throat," he said, and I heard the sincerity in his voice.

"Should I leave?" I asked him, but he was the one who came here to see me, who followed me out of the theatre. If it was too difficult, too painful, for him to be around me, then he wouldn't be here, would he?

"If you like, but I won't ever hurt you, Bella," he assured me.

I believed him.

"That wasn't my concern," I told him. "I just don't want you to be in pain."

"It's bearable," he said softly, and reached out and stroked the side of my face with his hand, let it come to a rest feather-light on my throat at the base of my neck. He was so cold, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. My pulse quickened and I wondered if he could feel the way it thrummed beneath his hand. I wondered if he could hear it. I wondered if it made the scent that much stronger. "Easier and more bearable every day."

"It is easier after you've just eaten?" I whispered.

"Yes, it is. Very much so," he said, and then he laughed again. I stared, mesmerized by the gleam of his teeth in the night. "You're so unpredictable, Bella."

"I have a theory about that, too," I said. But before we got into that… "How is that much pain bearable? How can you willingly put yourself through it?"

"Bella… I feel… very strongly… about you." A thrill ran through me at his careful words. "And I find the reward to be worth the torment."

"What's the reward?" I wondered aloud.

"A glimpse into your mind," he told me with a tortured smile. "You had another theory?"

"Yes. Speaking of minds, actually," I said haltingly. He smiled at me, and I knew that he suspected what was coming, and I knew that I was right. "You can read minds."

"That is neither a theory nor a question," he said. "But I'll allow it. Yes. What did I do that gave it away?"

I shrugged. "Um. A lot of little things, actually. You seemed to know what Mike was doing before he actually did it. That day he asked me to ask him to the dance. Actually, that whole day. You waited at the door for Eric to ask me because you knew he was going to and you wanted to see my reaction. And then the whole shitstorm with Tyler… which, by the way, you owe me big time for that. Did you know he's now telling everyone that he's taking me to prom? Me! At prom! With _him_! And it's all your fault."

"I was simply giving the boy his chance," Edward said, but his mouth was quirked up at the corners and I strongly suspected he wanted to laugh. When I continued to glare at him, he smiled indulgently. "Would you like me to make it up to you? I could frame him for cheating on a test and have him banned from prom."

He was obviously joking, so I didn't allow myself more than a moment of horror at the thought of him potentially ruining Tyler's future. "I was thinking of totaling his car tomorrow, myself. Hey, you could probably do that with your bare hands and my poor, innocent truck wouldn't have to suffer another needless cosmetic scratch."

"I could," he said with a slow smile. "But it would be very painful for me."

"Painful?" He'd been so unaffected by the whole accident that I was under the impression he couldn't really get hurt.

"Yes, Bella," he said seriously. "I love cars. It would cause me great pain to have to hurt his car."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Of course you love cars. That shouldn't surprise me."

He smiled at me again – I swore, he was smiling more during this one conversation than he had since I'd met him. I wondered if he was enjoying the freedom of his own honesty. I certainly was.

"Thank you," I said.

"Whatever for?" he said, surprise as clear in his voice as it was on his face.

"For not denying it. For not trying to make me feel crazy," I said. I had been prepared for him to avoid my questions like he usually did. The fact that he was speaking so freely with me filled me with a strong sense of relief.

Edward frowned and slowly pulled his hand from my throat. That wary look worked its way back into his expression. "I don't have the will to deny you anymore."

"Works out nicely for me," I said, trying for a lofty tone, but the thrill his words sent through me may have added some weight to my words.

"Edward, can you read _my_ mind?" I didn't think he could – he was always so frustrated and remarked on how unpredictable I was – but the mere possibility filled me with dread when I realized that my thoughts tonight had been very damning so far. I was at least trying to play it cool tonight, and if he could read my thoughts, they would certainly have given me away.

"No," he said. "Though not for lack of trying, believe me."

"I do." I laughed, relieved. "Sometimes, when you look at me, I can just see you trying to get inside my head."

"I'm sorry about that, Bella," he said with another sardonic smile. "It's just very frustrating to me sometimes that the one person I can't read is the most interesting human I've ever come across."

"The one person?" I asked. I blushed at the _most interesting human_ comment, and his gaze fell on my cheeks again. I hurried on. "I'm the only person whose mind you can't read?"

"Yes." He met my eyes again. "You have no idea how vexing it was when we first met. The mystery has gotten more tolerable. Marginally."

"Well, I'm sorry you find it so frustrating," I said, and it was time for some honesty of my own, "but it's a huge relief to me that you can't read my mind."

He smiled at me. "I understand what you mean."

"Can I…." I stopped mid-thought, embarrassed. Just because he was being so open with me tonight didn't mean I could just say anything and everything that came to mind.

"Can you what?" he asked immediately and I realized my sudden silence was probably as frustrating to him as all of his non-answers had been to me in our past conversations. More, even, because he was used to knowing what everyone was thinking at all times.

"Can I move closer to you?" I finished, biting my lip. His gaze darted to my cheeks again and I didn't need the sudden, intense flash of heat to know that I had flushed scarlet. "Or would that be… a bad idea?"

"It's always a bad idea for you to be anywhere near me, Bella," Edward said solemnly. "But I meant what I said. I won't ever hurt you. You can do as you wish."

I closed the gap between us then, practically pressed myself up against his side. Peering up at him uncertainly, I asked in a very small voice, "Is this okay?"

"Yes, Bella. You're safe with me, and from me."

I wasn't worried that he would want me in the way a vampire wanted a human; I was afraid that he wouldn't want me the way a boy might want a girl, but I wasn't going to tell him that. He lifted his arm and wrapped it around me, and pulled me closer to his chest. The move surprised me so much that I forgot to breathe for a moment. When I did, it was an utter pleasure. He smelled _so good_. Like cinnamon, honey, and lilac.

"I want to do something now," he said very quietly. "Do you trust me?"

He was looking at me, his eyes impossibly soft mere inches from mine. He didn't move another muscle until I nodded dumbly. Then he dipped his head so that his nose was running along my jawline, and I both felt and heard him take a deep, slow breath. My breath caught in my throat and my mind went fuzzy; I felt like my body was giving out on me. I bit my lip, terrified that I would whimper, and clutched my hands together tightly in my lap.

"Are you afraid? Your heart is racing," he murmured, his lips so close to my throat that I could feel the whisper of movement on my flesh. I swallowed thickly.

"No," I breathed. "It's not fear."

"Ah," he said, lifting his head so that we were again staring into each other's eyes. I saw the understanding there, but I wasn't ashamed. "This is _wrong_."

"I don't care," I said, and leaned in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did promise another update before Midnight Sun released, but I didn't say it wouldn't have a cliffhanger! No worries, though, I'm going to have chapter 8 up on Monday if it kills me.  
> Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know I sure did. Let me know what you think : )
> 
> _Chapter 8. Into the Light._
> 
> _My disappointment was singular when he released my arm. We walked slowly to his car and he opened the door for me wordlessly. He was in the driver's seat not a second after he had closed my door. I stared at him, wide-eyed. I hadn't even seen him move. He stared back at me with a blank expression and I got the impression he was testing me, waiting to see how I reacted when he unleashed his abilities._
> 
> _"Well," I said with a breathless chuckle. "It must be torture to have walk so slowly for my benefit. I'm sorry."_


	9. Chapter 8. Into the Light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time:
> 
> _"Are you afraid? Your heart is racing," he murmured, his lips so close to my throat that I could feel the whisper of movement on my flesh. I swallowed thickly._
> 
> _"No," I breathed. "It's not fear."_
> 
> _"Ah," he said, lifting his head so that we were again staring into each other's eyes. I saw the understanding there, but I wasn't ashamed. "This is wrong."_
> 
> _"I don't care," I said, and leaned in._

Chapter 8. Into the Light.

He pulled away as fast as lightning when there was barely a hairsbreadth between our lips, and was standing in front of me before I realized he had even moved.

"Your friends," he said quietly, an unreadable expression on his face.

I turned my head just as the movie theatre door opened and my friends spilled out into the night.

"Right," I said, disappointed and humiliated and feeling foolishly rejected. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"Bella," Edward said as I started to stand. "It's not that I don't… want you. You know I do."

"You want my blood," I said, turning towards him but not quite meeting his eyes. "It's different. It's okay."

"No, not only," he assured me. "It's just that I don't think you and I should push your friends much further tonight."

 _You and I_. I liked the sound of that. My heart kicked into overdrive again; I cleared my throat and nodded.

"Sensible," I said.

"Bella!" Jessica called, and Edward and I both turned to see her waving us over.

When I stood, I wobbled and nearly fell over. Edward caught my arm to steady me and I breathed out a shaky laugh. I watched the concern fade from his eyes as amusement bled into them when he realized I was unsteady because of _him_ , not out of fear, but trembling with want.

"I've got you, Bella," Edward promised, and kept a firm grip on me until we drew level with Jessica, Mike, and Angela. They were the only ones waiting on us; the others had all wandered off in the other direction.

"Are you alright, Bella?" Mike asked, looking from me to Edward to Edward's jacket wrapped around me, and his hand on my arm.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired all of a sudden," I lied. Truthfully, I was so keyed up I could hardly control my body.

"Well, we were just thinking of grabbing something to eat really quick and then heading home. Is that okay?" Angela asked, concern flitting across her face.

"Yeah, that's fine. Let's go," I said, and started to walk with Mike, Jess, and Angela after the rest of the group who had already started walking down to the restaurant. Edward's hand slid from my arm, and I turned to see that he wasn't following. Right. He didn't eat food.

"Actually, Bella, if you're that tired, I could just bring you home," Edward said, watching me intently. "If you'd like."

The others turned to look at us, Mike with a frown and Angela and Jess with awe. I was very aware of their eyes on me as I bit my lip.

"Oh, yeah, that would actually be really great," I said. No way was I skipping out on a chance to spend more time with him. "Thank you, Edward."

"It's not a problem," he said and I had to admire the fact that he didn't look away from me; his expression didn't falter even though I knew my friends must have been thinking some pretty awkward things about us, and so loudly he probably felt like they were shouting them at him.

"Are you sure, Bella?" Mike said, coming to stand right next to me. He looked more concerned than jealous, and I reminded myself to be thankful that I had a friend who was willing to make sure I wasn't doing something I was uncomfortable with. "I can bring you home."

"No, Mike, it's fine. Really. Thanks," I said, glancing back at Edward, who was now looking at Mike with an expression that was equally amused and annoyed. "I'm not really that hungry, and I'm sure you guys are starving. Edward was just saying how he ate right before he met us here, anyway."

"Okay, well I'll see you at school tomorrow, Bella," Jessica said with a pointed look that told me I was in for an uncomfortable grilling. She hooked her arm through Angela's and began to pull her away. "Mike, come on."

"Goodnight, Bella, Edward," Angela said, with a knowing smile, then she and Jessica ran off after the others, giggling.

Mike didn't follow them immediately, and Edward moved further down the block, hearing in Mike's thoughts some need for privacy, I was sure.

"I'll take you home, Bella," he said earnestly. "You don't have to go with him."

"I _want_ to go with Edward, Mike," I spoke quietly for Mike's benefit only; Edward, of course, heard every word I said and every thought Mike had about them. I was trying not to be annoyed with him now. I really did think he was mostly just trying to be a good friend. There was no way he would push his feelings on me again so soon after I'd told him off for doing just that. "Go catch up with Jess."

I turned to join Edward, only glancing back once I was standing in front of him to see that Mike was trudging along after the others with his hands in his pockets.

"What happened to not pushing them any further?" I said quietly.

"I'm being very bad," Edward admitted with a small, unapologetic smile. "Newton's thoughts were annoying me. He doesn't like me one bit."

I knew that already, obviously, but it was a different thing to hear Edward say it out loud, to pick the negative thoughts right out of Mike's head and feel stung, in some small way, by them and react. It seemed a distinctly teenage-boy action.

"Where's your car?" I asked, deciding that I didn't want to address Mike's unfavorable opinion of Edward because that would inevitably lead to his too-favorable opinion of me.

"It's further this way," he said, gesturing with a small nod, and I started walking back the way we had come from, in the opposite direction that the others were walking. He caught my elbow again and turned me back to face him. "Bella, he's _right_ not to like me. _You_ shouldn't like me."

"But I do, Edward," I said earnestly. "I know you think you're not good for me, but if you really thought I was in danger with you, or from you, you wouldn't have repeatedly promised you wouldn't hurt me tonight. You wouldn't be doing this right now. I _do_ like you, Edward, and for some reason _you_ like _me_ and I'm sure it's not going to be the easiest situation in the world for either of us, but what are we going to do? Pretend we don't feel what we feel?"

"No, I don't think I can manage that any longer," Edward admitted. "I'm sorry, Bella, I _am_ trying. It just might take me a little while to remember."

"Remember what?" I asked.

"That I'm not locking you out anymore," he told me.

"Oh, that." I turned and started to walk again. I smirked. "Don't worry, I'll remind you."

I was watching him out of the corner of my eye, so I saw him smile at that, though he didn't say anything. In silence, we walked a block past the bench we'd been sitting on before, and I spotted a familiar silver Volvo on a side street. When I started to turn towards it, he held me back.

"Did you actually want to go home or are you hungry?" he asked.

I considered for a moment. I hadn't eaten since this morning, but with all the excitement of having my suspicions confirmed by Jacob, and then by Edward, I hadn't even felt hungry. Now that he mentioned it, I was ravenous.

"I am a little hungry," I admitted. "But I can wait until I get home. It would be rude to... hey!"

He turned me sharply to the right and steered me down the street away from his car before I could finish speaking.

"It doesn't bother me, Bella," he told me. "It's not rude that you require sustenance."

He led me up a narrow concrete walkway towards a brown wooden door with a small window at eye-level. There were fairy lights surrounding the door, and an Italian phrase in fancy gold lettering carved into the wood. _La Bella Italia._ The tantalizing aroma of bread, garlic, pasta, and tomatoes hit me the moment Edward touched the door, holding it open and following me inside.

The girl at the hostess stand looked up and did a double take when she saw Edward. It was almost comical the way her eyes went wide and her lips parted just slightly; I knew how she felt. She couldn't have been older than me, with strawberry blond hair and green eyes and a pretty smile that looked flirtatious to my eyes.

"Two, please," Edward said before she could greet us. "Something private."

Her expression fell and settled into what I could only think to call resigned hospitality when she saw me and gave me a quick once-over from my head to my toes. My face was warm as we followed her through the dining room to a small, secluded table for two in the back.

"What are you thinking, Bella?" he asked when she walked away after giving us our menus. He looked pained, and I couldn't tell if it was because he was hungry in his own way, for me, or if he was frustrated that he couldn't just know what I was thinking already.

"When people see you," I said slowly, dropping my gaze to the small, flickering candle between us and twirling the burgundy tablecloth between my fingers, "they don't expect to see someone like me next to you."

"Someone like you?" Edward repeated incredulously. "Bella, look at me."

I did so reluctantly. He was staring at me with the strangest expression on his face; it looked something like wonder. Our waitress came then, interrupted before Edward could say what he had meant to tell me. She looked to be college-age, and was tall and thin with black hair hanging in loose curls to the nape of her neck, and she looked at Edward in that same awestruck way I usually did.

When she asked Edward what he wanted to drink, he looked expectantly at me until she turned to me as well. I ordered a coke.

"Two cokes," Edward amended, and waited until she had walked off to speak again. "Bella, these girls look at you and feel inferior."

"What?" I said, eyeing him in disbelief.

"I told you before: you don't know the effect you have on people. You are beautiful, as your name would suggest," he said, leaning towards me across the table, his voice shifting and taking on a delicate Italian accent. " _Bella_."

I opened my mouth, but the words got stuck in my throat, so all I could do was shake my head. "You're ridiculous," I said when I could finally speak again, but the words sounded thick to my ears.

Edward leaned back in his seat, smiling softly at me when the waitress came back with our – _my_ two drinks.

"Are you ready to order?" She didn't seem to care or notice that Edward studiously did not pay her a bit of attention while she smiled at him.

"Bella?" he said, and I jumped, glancing at the menu and choosing a dish at random. When the waitress wrote down my order of chicken parmesan and looked at him again, he shook his head before she could speak, never once taking his eyes off me. "Nothing for me, thank you."

"Okay," she said, finally seeming to realize that he wasn't going to entertain her flirtations. "Let me know if you change your mind."

My food arrived quickly and I ate it faster than I remembered ever eating anything in my life. Edward didn't speak, and I assumed he was aware that it would be difficult for me to eat and hold a conversation at the same time. The only reason I didn't try was that I didn't think this was an appropriate place to ask him more the type of questions I had in mind.

"Are you ready to go home?" Edward asked quietly once I was finished eating.

"I'm ready to leave," I corrected. I didn't think I would ever be ready to go home and not be able to see him for hours, not now, not after all that had passed between us tonight. What if he changed his mind while we were apart? What if he didn't entertain my questions or openly return my interest in him tomorrow? What if he disappeared again and I could never find him – never see him – again?

He lifted his hand and our waitress appeared as if he had pulled her out of thin air. I supposed she had been paying close attention to us and he had been aware of her the entire time.

"Can I get you _anything at all_?" she asked him. I heard the double entendre and ducked my head to hide my smile when Edward's expression didn't change though I knew he had caught it as well, and the thoughts she hadn't spoken.

"I'm ready to pay," he said, and handed her a bill that was already in his hand. "No change."

And then he was standing, walking around the table to come to my side. He put his arm behind me, not quite touching me, his hand hovering centimeters from the small of my back as we walked from the restaurant.

"You didn't have to pay," I said when we walked back out into the cool night. "Here, I'll pay you back."

"Don't be absurd, Bella," he said, and then his hand gripped my wrist to stop me from digging through my bag for money. "It was my pleasure."

My disappointment was singular when he released my arm. We walked slowly to his car and he opened the door for me wordlessly. He was in the driver's seat not a second after he had closed my door. I stared at him, wide-eyed. I hadn't even seen him move. He stared back at me with a blank expression and I got the impression he was testing me, waiting to see how I reacted when he unleashed his abilities.

"Well," I said with a breathless chuckle. "It must be torture to have walk so slowly for my benefit. I'm sorry."

He laughed, mystified, and groaned.

"So unpredictable," he said on a sigh as he started the car and pulled smoothly out into the street. "I hate moving slowly. We all do. But, with you… I find I don't mind walking at your pace with you beside me."

I smiled softly to myself, my hands folded in my lap, as he turned onto the highway.

"I didn't mean to push you earlier," I said after a moment, referring to the almost-kiss. I was certain he knew what I meant. "I won't do it again. I promise."

"It's alright," Edward said, turning the steering wheel with one hand, the other resting on the gear shift between us, close enough that I could stretch my pinky out and touch him if I dared. "We both survived."

I ducked my head and cursed mentally when my cheeks went warm. I could feel his eyes on me, and knew he could scent the blood pooling in my face. He groaned. "Please, Bella. What are you thinking?"

"I was just wondering…" I said, and took a deep breath to steel myself. "Do you think… is that something we might be able to accomplish? Some day?"

"A kiss?" Edward said, and looked at me fully then, took his eyes right off the road and studied me for a full five seconds. I had no doubt that he was in full control of the car, though. I nodded, my blood pounding in my ears.

"I think I'm stronger than I've given myself credit for," he finally said with a small smile. "I don't see why we couldn't. Some day. With the proper preparation."

He turned the radio on after a moment and some soft, classical piano melody started to play. I was reminded of the sight of him at the piano at school, that day he'd found me in the music room before we'd ever even spoken to each other.

"Did you learn to play piano before or after you were changed?" I asked him.

"Before," he told me, his expression turning contemplative. "Human memories fade if you don't make an effort to retain them, but I recall some things. I remember my parents well enough. They were well off and my father bought my mother a piano as an anniversary gift shortly before I was born – she had a passion and a talent for it and he wanted her to be able to indulge in her passions at home instead of having to go out and find a piano to play – and she taught me how to play when I was young. I didn't have as great a talent for it by the time I died as I do now, of course."

"Of course," I agreed absentmindedly, thinking of him as he would have been back then, a normal seventeen-year-old boy. Would he have been as gorgeous then as he was now? I imagined he couldn't have been quite so alarmingly attractive, but I was certain that he would still have been quite handsome. Perhaps not the type of boy who could turn heads just walking down the street as he did now, but the type of boy you noticed in class, watched out of the corner of your eye, daydreamed about and doodled his last name tacked onto the end of yours.

"Did you follow me?" I said. When he said nothing, just furrowed his brow, I realized I hadn't given enough context. "I mean that day, in the music room. Did you follow me from the cafeteria?"

"Your scent," he admitted. "I waited a few minutes to be sure no one would notice. I wanted to know if I could handle myself better around you before I had to endure an entire class sitting beside you."

"Practical." I nodded.

"I didn't plan to speak to you," he went on. "Not in private like that. Too much temptation, I feared. I was going to wait to introduce myself in class if I decided I could manage it, but you looked up and saw me in the doorway, so I had no choice."

"You scared the hell out of me," I told him.

"I know," he said. "I'm sorry for that."

We were nearing Forks already and I glanced at the dashboard in alarm. He was driving almost double the speed limit. The drive that should have taken us and hour and a half had only taken about forty-five minutes.

"Jesus Christ," I said, looking out the window at the trees flashing past. "You weren't lying when you said you hated to go slow."

"Are you afraid?" he asked and I heard the smile in his voice.

"I mean, I'm sure you're in total control here, but some of us won't walk away in one piece if you wrap this car around a tree," I pointed out, unable to tear my gaze from the scenery flashing by.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "I would never allow that to happen."

I believed him, but I found myself unable to hold much of a conversation, distracted as I was by my own mortality. It wasn't until he entered town limits and slowed the car to a more reasonable speed that I was able to clear my head enough to speak.

"I have one more question for you," I said as he guided the car steadily down my street.

"Only the one?" he said with a small smile.

"Well, for tonight," I said. "I'm sure I'll have a whole list tomorrow."

"I'm sure," he laughed.

"You said that you're the oldest, after Carlisle…"

"Well, the oldest of Carlisle's creations," he amended. "Jasper is significantly older than the rest of us, save Carlisle."

"He _created_ you?" I asked, distracted.

"Carlisle created all of us, save Jasper and Alice," Edward said.

"How? When? Why?" I said, curiosity flooding me.

"Tomorrow, if you like," he responded. "The tale may be a bit too long to get through tonight. Your original question?"

"Fine. That's going to be top of my list tomorrow," I said, annoyed with myself for wasting so much time tonight. "Okay, how old are you?"

"I'm seventeen," he said easily.

I frowned at him. "In what year did you turn seventeen?"

"You're asking better questions now, Bella," he said almost proudly, and frowned, turning in his seat to study me. It was only then that I realized we were idling in my driveway. "I'm not sure how you'll take it."

"I haven't run screaming yet, have I?" I said, turning to mirror his posture. "You can trust me, Edward."

"Very well," he said after a moment of contemplation. "I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1901. In 1918, I was in a hospital dying of the Spanish Influenza when Carlisle found me."

It took me a moment to process that, to do the math. He was one hundred and nineteen years old. He had been a vampire for more than a century. Jasper was significantly older, and Carlisle older still. My mind was spinning. Edward was still watching me, that look on his face I hadn't been able to place earlier. I realized he was nervous… no… _anxious_ for my reaction.

"Wow," I said, forcing a laugh. "You're geriatric."

"Bella," he said, frowning, and I saw the concern in his eyes.

"It's fine, Edward. It doesn't matter," I told him. "It's just one of those things you need to process for a second."

"It doesn't matter?" he repeated incredulously. I wasn't sure if he was aware that he was leaning in closer to me. "I tell you that I'm over a hundred years old and your response is that _it doesn't matter_?"

"Yes." I shrugged, and I _was_ aware of my actions when I leaned closer to him. "It doesn't change anything, Edward. It doesn't change how I feel."

He stared at me for a long time and this time when he leaned over the center console, I knew that he did so with purpose.

I had promised him that I wouldn't try to kiss him again; it was something he needed to do, a conscious decision he needed to make so he wasn't taken by surprise, and so he could take whatever precautions he felt were necessary. That didn't stop me from _wanting_ to kiss him when he leaned his forehead against mine and inhaled deeply.

"You should go inside, Bella," he whispered quite serenely and pulled away very slowly.

I opened my eyes and saw, in the glow of the distant porch light, that his were black. I wasn't afraid, though. He looked perfectly in control of himself. I smiled and nodded, reluctantly fumbling for the door handle behind my back. I didn't want to take my eyes off him, not when I wasn't sure how long I would have to wait to see him again. Would he find me before school? Or would I have to wait until lunch again? Or would he leave me behind without so much as a warning?

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said with a smile, reaching past me to open the door when it was clear I was struggling.

"Yeah, okay, good night," I mumbled as I stumbled from the car. I rushed up the pathway to the front door; he was still in the driveway when I turned to look over my shoulder, and I could see him laughing at me.

Embarrassed, but happy, I let myself inside and closed the door behind me, leaning up against it to steady myself.

"Bells?" Charlie called from the kitchen.

"Oh, really, Charlie, who else could it be?" I heard Renee say as I walked toward the kitchen. They were at the small, plain kitchen table eating what looked to be very dry baked chicken. My mother was not culinarily gifted.

"Hey," I said with a small smile, stopping in the doorway.

"How was your day, honey?" Renee asked.

"It was good," I said.

"Did you surf?" Charlie asked.

"No. I inherited your balance, remember, Dad?"

"Right."

"Are you hungry?" Renee asked. "There's plenty chicken."

"No!" I said quickly, clearing my throat when Renee looked hurt. Charlie gave me a supportive nod behind her back. "I mean, I ate in Port Angeles."

"Whose jacket is that?" Charlie said suddenly, sharp Police Chief eyes narrowing on the much-too-large leather jacket I was wearing.

"Oh," I said, mentally berating myself for forgetting to return it to him. I wondered if he had realized and knowingly allowed me to walk into my parents' kitchen wearing his jacket. "I left mine in Mike's car and I got cold in the movie and my friend let me borrow his."

"You forgot it again when you got back in the car?" Renee asked with a sly smile.

"Um. Yeah, well... I actually didn't ride home with Mike," I admitted, fingering one of the sleeves nervously. "I was tired and they were going to be out a while longer and Edward was already coming back to town, so I just went with him."

"Edward?" Renee repeated.

"He's just a friend," I said quickly. It was another lie, of course, but my parents didn't need all the details just yet. Well, they were never going to get all of the details, but maybe some day they would get _some_. "Seriously, please don't do this."

"Edward _who_?" Charlie said.

"Oh my God. This is not happening." I sighed and turned on my heel. "I'm going to bed."

"Edward _who_!" Charlie demanded louder, but I was already stomping up the stairs.

"Good night!" I shouted, and heard my mother's triumphant laughter as she tried unsuccessfully to calm my father down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed! I couldn't make you guys wait too long after the sort-of cliffhanger last chapter!  
> I'm so excited for Midnight Sun tomorrow. Kind of worried, too, tbh. My poor fragile coronavirus emotions can't handle 600 pages of pure angst, but I have faith that Stephenie didn't forget Edward's sense of humor. I'm looking forward to reading more interactions between the Cullen family… maybe Rosalie will have more dimension if we spend more time with her? One can only hope.  
> Anyway, let me know how you liked this chapter! And what you're looking forward to from MS!
> 
> Next chapter:
> 
> _Chapter 9. Iron Will._
> 
> _"Well," I said, swallowing thickly. He was still so close, his amber eyes inches from mine. "I'm happy to help you desensitize. Feel free to continue."_
> 
> _"As much as I would love to – and, believe me, I would love to," he laughed ruefully, shaking his head, and then gestured out the window to indicate the full parking lot, "we have an audience, and they think we're doing something very different."_


	10. Chapter 9. Iron Will.

I took my time showering, dressing, and brushing my hair the next morning, trying to avoid my parents until they both left so that I didn't have to endure more questions about the mysterious Edward who drove me home. I ran out the front door maybe two minutes after I heard Renee's car pull out of the driveway, my truck key in hand.

And stopped, heart hammering in the damp air that promised rain momentarily, when I saw a silver Volvo where Renee usually parked. In the blink of an eye, Edward was outside and holding the passenger door open for me.

"Would you like a ride to school?" he asked. He was watching me carefully like he was worried I would have changed my mind about being near him, alone with him, in the last ten hours and thirty-two minutes.

"Yes. Thank you," I said, and walked over to him, trying my best to exude confidence even though I knew he could hear my heart hammering.

I brushed by him, closer than was strictly necessary, and slid into the car. He closed the door softly and instantaneously was sitting next to me, looking at me with that same expression he had when he'd done the same thing in Port Angeles.

"You're not going to scare me off with that," I informed him as I buckled my seat belt.

"I _could_ scare you," he said with a thoughtful frown.

"I'm sure you're capable," I allowed, and shrugged. "But it doesn't make a difference to me."

"Yes, I remember," he said. "As it happens, I _like_ being able to be myself around you."

For some odd reason, it sounded like he was frustrated. With me for not running away screaming? Very likely. With himself for not wanting to hide who he really was from me? Well, that seemed pretty likely as well, given what I knew of his personality and considering the several warnings he had given me that I would be better to stay away from him.

"You were going to tell me how your family was formed," I reminded him as he turned the key in the ignition.

He talked me through it, speaking quietly, carefully, as if expecting it to suddenly become too much.

"Carlisle found me dying of the Spanish Influenza in the summer of 1918 in Chicago. He was lonely, you see, after so long on his own, and had been considering making a companion for himself since he was having no luck finding one. He had treated my parents, but wasn't able to cure them. My mother… it was her dying wish that Carlisle save me. He saw something in me – I think I was especially perceptive even then, and he could see it. He was fond of me, so when it was clear to him that there was no saving me conventionally, he took me from the hospital – it wasn't hard to hide, so many bodies everywhere – and he changed me."

"I still, to this day, don't understand how he was able to stop from feeding on me. Mine was his first taste of human blood. I don't know how he's managed it, but in almost half a millennium, Carlisle has never fed on a human."

Half a millennium? I bit my lip, thinking of the young, attractive small town doctor, and trying to reconcile him with someone almost five hundred years old. It didn't seem possible, but how could I doubt Edward now?

"Do you remember it all from your own perspective? Or are they Carlisle's memories you have?" I wondered aloud.

"Some of both. I don't remember my human life very clearly, as I said last night, only small details that seemed important to hold onto. I remember even less from when I was dying. The fever was so intense…" he said, and I saw his grip on the steering wheel tighten. "Mostly, I just remember the pain."

"The pain? Of being ill?" I asked.

"No." He sighed and turned to look at me as he guided the car to a smooth stop at a red light. "The bite, and the subsequent transformation. It's days of agony, burning as the venom spreads through the body until the heart stops. And then, a different sort of burning when you wake."

"Hot iron down the throat?" I guessed, recalling the description from the night before.

"Something like that," he said with a wry smile, and his gaze flickered over me.

"Wait," I said, horrified. "Is it more painful now, with me? Even more painful than when you first woke up?"

"In some ways," he said, and shrugged. "When you first wake, it's different. It's… primal… the urge to feed… there's no fighting it. There's no caging the monster in. There is only the call of blood. Now, it's different. My body and my mind and my heart are constantly at war around you. You're lucky I'm a very stubborn being, Bella."

It was silent for a moment, one of those silences where I knew Edward was just waiting for my reaction. I looked at him, right in his eyes. "What about the others? How did they come along?"

He sighed and shook his head and I knew I hadn't given him the reaction he'd expected, the one he felt he deserved. Horror, I guessed. Or maybe repulsion.

"Esme was next. She fell from a cliff and was on the verge of death. He'd treated her in the hospital before, years earlier, had affection for her, and she for him. He couldn't bear the thought of her dying, so he changed her. They've been married for nearly a century."

"Then Rosalie. She was beaten and left for dead in the street. He brought her home and changed her. It was only two years later she found Emmett being mauled by a bear in Tennessee. She carried him more than a hundred miles back to Carlisle and begged him to change him for her. The amount of restraint she showed only two years after her own change was astonishing. To be able to resist all that blood when she was covered in it? It's not a simple thing, but she felt something for him and she knew he was going to be important to her."

"Did you see that in her mind?" I asked curiously. Somehow, I couldn't imagine Rosalie Hale sitting and talking with Edward about her feelings. But what did I know? I only saw the façade they put on at school. For all I knew, she was warm and inviting at home, and the stoic intimidating exterior in public was just a ruse.

"Yes. She used to be very annoyed with me that I could hear everything she was thinking," he told me. "She would try to block me out, but it didn't always work very well."

"And now?" I asked.

"There are no secrets in my family now. They are all free with their thoughts around me," Edward said, and scowled. "Too free, sometimes."

"You can't control it?" I asked. What must it be like to constantly have everyone else's thoughts in his mind when he didn't want them?

"I've learned to tune it out at times," Edward said dismissively. "In a crowd, it's almost like background noise. It's more difficult for me to tune out my family, though. The more familiar I am with someone, the stronger the connection."

"It must be terribly inconvenient," I said.

"Yes, it can be," he said, but he didn't sound inconvenienced. He'd clearly made his peace with the fact that he could so rarely enjoy true solitude. "They've each learned their own way of temporarily hiding their thoughts. Except for Emmett, who's never bothered to try. He's very open and honest and he doesn't see the point of trying to hide anything from me when I'll just find out anyway."

It all sounded very fascinating, and I wanted so badly to learn more about their family dynamic, but first I had to finish the story of how his family came together. "What about Alice and Jasper? You said they came together and found the rest of you."

"Yes. Jasper was changed when he was serving as a soldier in the Civil War, almost sixty years before me. He didn't have the same upbringing as the rest of us. He fed only on humans until he and Alice found each other in 1948. She helped him learn how to curb his instinct to kill humans, to control it after nearly a century of feeding on humans."

"Is that why he always looks like he's in pain?" I asked.

"It's part of it," Edward said. "It's more difficult for him to curb his nature. He struggles more than the rest of us."

"Why do you do it?" If it was so difficult, why did they bother to deny their instincts?

"We… have a fondness for humanity," Edward said slowly. "We respect the living; we see the _people_ rather than the _prey_. And we don't… we don't _want_ to be monsters."

"I don't think you're a monster, Edward," I said quietly. He looked dubious, as if he didn't quite believe me, but he didn't argue. "What's Alice's story?"

"She doesn't know," Edward answered. "She doesn't remember anything before she woke in the dark."

"Nothing?" I asked.

"All she remembers is waking up alone in 1920. She stayed that way until she and Jasper found each other, nearly thirty years later," Edward said gravely. "They haven't been apart since."

I pictured the smallest of the Cullens: flitting, pixie-like, fragile. Of course, that was just her appearance; I knew she wasn't defenseless, wasn't as harmless as she looked. All the same, I couldn't imagine the pain and loneliness she must have suffered waiting so long for her soulmate.

"It's so sad," I whispered, my voice breaking. I wondered, then, if it had been like that for Edward: lonely and sad. What was it like to be surrounded by happy couples, soulmates, to hear the force of their love in your mind, and have no one to share it with? I felt tears welling hot in my eyes and blinked quickly, swiping at a single errant tear. Embarrassed, I looked at Edward to see that he was staring at me again in stunned disbelief.

"Yes, it is," he agreed after a moment, his voice very gentle in the quiet space between us.

I realized that the car was no longer moving; we had arrived at school and parked close to the middle of the lot while he was speaking. There was a soft tapping on the hood of the car; the heavy clouds had finally produced the promised rain.

"Do you want your jacket back?" I said, feeling awkward; he was still watching me with that almost awestruck expression. I was wearing his jacket again, in part because I only had the one suitable jacket I'd left in Mike's car the night before, and partly because I'd been planning to return it to him as soon as I'd seen him anyway. That, and I couldn't get enough of the smell.

"No, Bella," he said softly, and there was something strange in his eyes. Hunger, I thought with a flush, but not the dangerous kind. "It actually serves its purpose on you."

He leaned over the center console, just like he had last night, and pressed his face to my neck and inhaled deeply again.

"Not that I mind," I said breathlessly as he began to run his nose along my jawline, just like he had done in Port Angeles. "But why do you do that? Doesn't it hurt you?"

"Yes," he murmured in my ear, but he didn't pull away. "It's enjoyable, though. And necessary. Think of it as if… I'm desensitizing."

He pulled away with a small, wicked smile. "That, and I like the way your heart races."

"Well," I said, swallowing thickly. He was still so close, his amber eyes inches from mine. I wanted him closer still. "I'm happy to help you desensitize. Feel free to continue."

"As much as I would love to – and, believe me, I _would_ love to," he laughed ruefully, shaking his head, and then gestured out the window to indicate the full parking lot, "we have an audience, and they think we're doing something very different."

"Oh," I said, looking around in horror. I made eye contact with a couple walking in front of the car; the girl averted her gaze quickly, giggling to her boyfriend. I groaned. "Great."

"Are you ready?" Edward asked, reaching for the handle of his door.

"I guess." I sighed, though. I really didn't want to leave the confines of his car. I wished more than anything else that we could be alone again. I just had so many more questions for him.

Edward met me as I stepped out of the car, moving at a normal human pace, and shut the door for me. When he reached to take my books from me, I stepped back.

"What are you doing?"

He quirked an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't acknowledge my discomfort, taking the strap of my bag and sliding it off my shoulder.

"Bella," he said in a long-suffering voice. "Before the end of first period, everyone in this school is going to hear how we were just making out in my car. How would I look if I didn't even carry your books for you after that?"

"But, we weren't," I hissed, hurrying to catch up to him when he turned to walk across the lot.

"Would you like to tell them that, then?" Edward said. I could see the upward quirk of his lips; he knew I wouldn't say anything to anyone. "Besides, what we were actually doing is, in truth, much more scandalous. I'm only trying to preserve my reputation as a gentleman."

"It isn't 1918 anymore, Edward. You're being ridiculous," I said, then shook my head. I knew I wasn't going to win this one. "But, if I just think of it as protecting your reputation, I can bear it."

"I appreciate that. It's very noble of you," Edward teased.

I was aware of all of the eyes on us, but I couldn't find it in myself to care too much. I enjoyed being around Edward more than I hated the attention that came with it.

"Hey, where are the others? You usually drive them," I said, suddenly struck by the realization that his siblings were nowhere to be found.

He nodded to a bright red convertible on the other side of the parking lot. "Rosalie drove today."

"What does your family think about all this?" I asked. I knew I didn't have to explain that I meant _us_.

He was silent for a while. We were almost to the awning people usually crowded under when it was raining by the time he answered.

"Most of my siblings think I'm being irresponsible," he said carefully. "You have to understand that the entire family will be implicated if this ends badly. My parents just want me to be happy, so they're willing to support me in whatever decision I make."

"Is there something you haven't decided?" I asked very quietly. He had said _I won't ever hurt you, Bella_ last night, and he'd said it more than once, so I was confident that he wasn't still deciding whether or not to kill me. What more was there?

"No, Bella," he answered. "I've made up my mind."

I still didn't think he was talking about the murder and blood drinking, but I knew it wasn't the time or place to push for clarification. "You said, most of your siblings?" I said instead.

"Yes," he said, his eyes narrowing in thought, like he was deciding how much to tell me. "Alice is very supportive."

"She is?" I said, surprised. I had never had any contact with any of the Cullens other than Edward and Dr. Cullen. I couldn't think of any good reason for his sister to like me, though I did remember her smiling at me the other day at lunch. "Why?"

"Alice can be strange sometimes," Edward said, still carefully choosing his words with a frown, and I remembered we couldn't speak freely here, not with so many people around. "She thinks you two will be the best of friends."

He glanced sideways at me, and smiled ruefully at what I was sure was the shocked expression on my face. "She has good reason," he added.

I filed that away for future clarification.

"Morning, Bella!" I looked up at Jessica's call to see her and Mike standing just ahead, under the awning several feet back from the light rain. Mike had my jacket folded over his arm.

"Hey, guys," I said when Edward and I drew level with them.

"Here," Mike said, handing me my jacket with a frown. "I thought you might need this."

"Thanks, Mike. You're a lifesaver," I said, swapping jackets as quickly as I could. Edward inclined his head when I handed him his jacket with a soft, "Thank you."

"Well, we'll leave you two to it," Jessica said with a sidelong glance at Edward. She gave me an expectant look that Edward pretended not to notice.

"See you in government, Bella," Mike said with a grumpy scowl.

"Yeah, sure," I agreed.

Edward chuckled when they walked away, stepping closer to me and lowering his voice. "She's planning to ambush you in Trigonometry."

"Yeah, I figured," I said with a sigh, then studied him speculatively. "What does she want to know?"

"She wants to know if we're secretly dating, or if we're just _hooking up_ ," he said at once. Then, after the briefest hesitation, "And if I'm a good kisser."

"But…" I stopped, and looked at him in panic. I didn't know any of the answers, except that we definitely were not hooking up. "What do I tell her?"

"I suppose you could tell her we're dating, if you don't mind. I think it would be easier than the alternative, since we'll be spending so much time together anyway," he said, grasping the handle of the door to the English building and holding the door for me.

"I don't mind," I said, then peered up at him shyly as we stopped outside my classroom. "I mean, it's kind of the truth… Isn't it?"

He looked at me with such tenderness, and stroked a single long-fingered hand through my hair. "Yes, Bella. You're right," he murmured, and then turned and began to walk away.

"Wait," I said, glancing warily at the people walking through the hallway. "What about that other thing?"

"Well, Bella, I'm afraid you're on your own with that one" he said, pausing at the door to give me a taunting wink. "But I'll be curious to hear how you handle it."

And then he was gone, leaving me to endure English class with Eric moping in the corner, and then Government with Mike shooting me furtive, sidelong glances. I knew he wanted to talk to me, probably to try to discourage me from seeing Edward anymore, but I was too preoccupied with the upcoming ambush to care.

Jessica was waiting for me outside of building six after my government class. It was a testament to how eager she was for gossip that she barely spared Mike a greeting before she hooked her arm through mine and practically dragged me along towards building five, and our Trigonometry class.

"Spill," she said as soon as Mike was out of earshot.

"About what?" I asked reluctantly.

"Did you plan to meet up with Edward last night? What happened after you left us? Did you hook up? Are you guys dating? Is he your boyfriend? Is he a good kisser?" She fired questions off rapid-fire so that my head was spinning by the time we walked into our classroom.

"Um," I said once I sat down. "No, I had no idea he was going to be there. I was as surprised to see him as the rest of you were."

"Why did he come? Just to see you? Just because he knew you would be there?" she demanded, leaning across the aisle to whisper so that we couldn't easily be overheard.

I shrugged awkwardly and tucked my hair behind my ear, acutely aware that Edward would be paying close attention to Jessica's thoughts.

"I… yeah, I guess so," I stammered. "We just went outside to talk… _only_ to talk. And he gave me his jacket because I was cold."

"Because you left your jacket in Mike's car," Jessica said with a nod. "Did he really just take you home after? Or did you go somewhere else?"

"Well he was concerned that I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we stopped at that Italian restaurant near the theatre."

"Oh, how thoughtful," Jessica said. "So, are you planning to hang out again? Are you guys, like, a _thing_?"

"Y-yeah, I… I guess," I said, ducking beneath my desk to rummage through my bag for my notebook and pencil. It was a pretty obvious attempt to hide my blush, I thought, but Jessica wasn't the most observant person, and I could only hope it hadn't registered in her thoughts. "He's driving me to Seattle next Saturday."

"Oh… But you guys should go to the dance!" Jessica protested.

"No, definitely not," I said, shaking my head firmly. "I don't surf, and I don't dance. Trust me, it's for the best."

"I bet Edward can dance," she said dreamily. "Rich kids go through classes like that all the time."

"I bet he can." I doubted if there was anything he couldn't do.

"Have you met his family yet? Has he met your parents? Has your dad pulled the Police Chief card and scared the crap out of him?"

"I've only met his dad. Dr. Cullen treated me after the almost accident," I reminded her. "Apparently, though, he thinks I'll get along well with Alice. He hasn't met my parents, but something tells me even the Chief won't scare him."

Jessica snorted softly. "I wonder if he'll pull the whole cleaning his gun routine when it happens."

Thankfully, class started just then, affording me a short reprieve from her questions. Of course, the second the bell rang she was at my side with more.

"Well?" she said impatiently, as if I had failed to answer a question she had asked two seconds ago, not an hour ago. At my blank look, she made a 'tsk'ing noise and lowered her voice to a hiss in my ear again. "Is he a good kisser?"

"Oh." I bit my lip, and hugged my books to my chest, thinking over my options carefully. She just assumed that we had kissed; I figured it was weirder for me to say that we hadn't, but I wasn't confident in my ability to lie to her. I decided on some semblance of the truth. "Um, you know… it's really embarrassing, actually, but every time he comes near me, much less touches me, I feel like I'm about to pass out."

Jessica giggled. "W-o-w," she said, drawing it out into a three-syllable word.

"Anyway," I said, quickly taking advantage of her silence as we approached our Spanish classroom. "Bring me up to speed on what happened after I left last night. You and Mike are looking pretty cozy."

"I know, right?" She squealed, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders. "He dropped me off after everybody else even though Angela lives closer to him, and he kissed me!"

"That's awesome, Jess," I said with a genuine smile. It seemed Mike had taken what I'd said to heart, and had decided to leap into it with Jessica.

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't almost pass out or anything," she said, rolling her eyes playfully. "But it was really nice!"

"Are you guys going out again before the dance, or what?" I asked.

"I think he wants to go see another movie this weekend. A slasher flick this time," she said. "Oh, you and Edward should come!"

I pursed my lips in an awkward smile as I slid into my seat. "I don't know, Jess." I shrugged and reached into my bag for a pen. "Mike _really_ doesn't seem to like Edward."

"Whatever, he'll get over it." She rolled her eyes. "I don't think any of the guys here like any the Cullen boys. It's just because they're all super hot, though. Don't worry about it."

We took our seats in Spanish just as the bell rang and I was relieved, for once, when Mrs. Goff announced a pop quiz. Next to me, Jessica groaned with the rest of the class.

"Who gives a pop quiz on a Monday? Seriously messed up. Anyway, are you having lunch with Edward again?" Jessica asked me as we started putting our books away after class. She paused, staring at something out the window. Turning, I saw Edward standing under a tree, looking at me. Jessica laughed breathlessly next to me. "I guess that's my answer. I'll see you in Gym."

By the time I stepped into the drizzle outside, he was standing there at the door with an amused smile. Once again, he took my book bag without preamble. "How did it go?"

I glowered at him and didn't answer; he already knew, of course. Hadn't he basically told me he would be listening in on Jessica's thoughts? He laughed at me as we started walking to the cafeteria and the mesmerizing sound made it difficult to feel awkward about the stares we were getting again.

"You nearly faint whenever I get too close to you?" He held open the door to the cafeteria with a smirk.

"Please. Like you didn't already know that." Following him into the line, I rolled my eyes. Then, in a truly terrible impression of his smooth, melodic teasing earlier in the car: " _I like the way your heart races._ "

He took a lunch tray, slanting an almost nervous look down at me. "Are you annoyed with me already?"

"No," I assured him, eyeing the tremendous amount of food he piled onto the tray dubiously. He couldn't honestly expect me to eat all of that. "What? Half's for you?"

"Of course," he said with a wink for me, and a smile for the lunch lady as he paid her. She stared after him when he turned away; even middle-aged women weren't immune to his charm, I realized with a small smirk as I followed him.

He sat at the end of the same long, half-occupied table we'd shared the week before, but this time I chose to sit in the seat next to him. I worried my proximity would alarm him, but he moved his chair closer still, so close that our arms would brush each time I reached for something from the tray. I wanted to ask him so many questions, but I was worried that we would be easily overheard. Correctly guessing the reason for my hesitation, he smiled softly and angled his body toward me, leaning in.

"The other students here aren't as curious as you," he reminded me. "Besides, it's incredibly difficult to be overheard in a noisy, crowded lunch room. We can talk."

"Is it difficult for you to pretend to be just like any other person?" I asked quietly.

"In what way?" Edward said. He leaned his opposite forearm against the table, and his torso hunched slightly as he leaned towards me. We looked, I was sure, very secretive, but I figured most people would likely attribute it to new love.

"Physically, I mean. Like your speed. I know you said last night that you hate going slow, but is it difficult for you to move at a more … _normal_ pace, for lack of a better term?" I clarified. "And the strength. I know you're capable of massive shows of strength. Are you, I don't know, _concentrating_ really hard right now not to crush that?"

I gestured to his hands. He was fiddling absently with my empty soda bottle.

"Regarding the speed," he began slowly, pausing when someone walked behind us, "it's not difficult, per se, to move at a _normal_ pace. It's just boring. And the strength?"

In a flash, the bottle was a ball of plastic no bigger than a golf ball. He smiled at me and set it down on table between us.

"It's very easy to do things like this, and like … other things you've seen," he said cryptically as a boy I recognized from my Gym class walked in front of us. I knew he was referring to the day he'd stopped the van from crushing me. "But it's not difficult to handle delicate things. Your hand, for instance."

He reached over and took my hand in his, slid his fingers through mine smoothly. I marveled at the bold contact – he'd been fairly careful not to touch me too much last night. He turned our hands over so mine was resting on top of his on the table.

"I _could_ very easily crush every bone in your hand, if I wanted," Edward said with a quick flash of a grin. "But it's not that I have to try not to hurt you in that way, it's that I would have to consciously expend the effort. Do you understand?"

I nodded. It wasn't like the bloodlust where he was focused nonstop on not killing me. He was like a regular boy in respect to his strength, unless he actively chose not to be. "Is it difficult right now? In the other way?"

He smiled serenely and shook his head. "No, Bella. Or, I should say, no more than I can handle."

"Is it… normal? The, um, the effect I have on you?" I said hesitantly. "Is it very strong like this, very often?"

He frowned, his eyes narrowing with some sort of internal debate. Finally, he sighed, and shook his head. "While not unheard of, it isn't common," he told me, speaking so quietly I had to strain to hear him. "Occasionally, there will be one person who is particularly enticing, but I've never heard of it being this strong before."

"Has it ever happened to you?" I asked. I hadn't yet asked him if he'd always followed his family's way of life, but it was on my list. I just wasn't sure how to word it, or how comfortable he would be discussing it. Something he had said in the car earlier made me suspect that he hadn't always had such a strong will, hadn't always rejected human blood.

_I don't know how he's managed it, but in almost half a millennium, Carlisle has never fed on a human._

"No," he said. "But to Emmett. Twice, when he was still fairly new. Once stronger than the other, but nothing like this." He danced his long fingers lightly along the wrist of the hand he was holding, right over the veins there. "He tried, but ... couldn't resist. He's the youngest of us, it's more difficult."

Over his shoulder, I saw his siblings at their usual table. They weren't looking at us, but that didn't mean they weren't aware. Alice and Rosalie were on one side of the table with an untouched apple and a banana in front of them as they looked at their boyfriends... husbands? Across from them, Emmett and Jasper were playing a very ordinary-looking game of paper football on the tabletop. Shocked by the normalcy of the scene, I turned to Edward. "Can they hear us now?"

"Yes, they're listening," he said, watching me closely. "Does it bother you?"

I thought about it. Did it bother me to know that anything I ever said could be overheard? I didn't want to hide anything from Edward, and I wanted his family to know that they could trust me with their secrets. I couldn't lie to myself and deny that it was strange, knowing that I could only be certain I had privacy if I wasn't speaking, but nothing had changed. For the two months I'd been here, every conversation I'd ever had could have been overheard by any of the Cullens.

I shook my head, and shrugged. "It is what it is. It's the world I live in now."

Rosalie Hale turned suddenly, and glared at me so harshly that I flinched. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, but in that moment, her face was the stuff of nightmares. Edward stiffened and his free hand curled into a fist on the table between us. He scowled and hissed a low warning under his breath without looking up. Casually, Rosalie turned her head back to the other Cullens and shifted back into the ordinary illusion with ease.

"I'm sorry about her," he murmured and I remembered he had said that his siblings, save Alice, weren't very happy he was spending time with me so publicly.

"It's okay." I shrugged, but I was shaken. She'd looked _so_ angry, almost as terrifying as Edward had been that first day. Now, looking at him sitting so calmly beside me, it seemed like a lifetime ago I'd been certain he wanted me dead. "I get it. This isn't just dangerous for me."

"I'm _not_ going to lose this battle," he vowed quietly, and I knew he said it for his family's benefit, and maybe even his own, as much as mine. "I couldn't survive it if I did. Not after knowing you."

"That iron will of yours," I murmured.

"I get it from my father," Edward joked, and I knew he referred to Carlisle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did everyone like Midnight Sun? Have you finished it yet? I was surprised it took me three days to get through it, but I think it was just because it was already a familiar story. The only thing that really got to me was the ending. I've never wanted to punch someone more than I wanted to punch Edward at the end there.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> Next time:
> 
> _Chapter 10. Modern Man._
> 
> _"Has Alice ever been wrong before?" I asked. His hesitation was all the answer I needed: no, she hadn't._
> 
> _"She will be this time. That's all that matters," he promised, and I could tell by the way he stroked a hand gently down my arm that he thought he was comforting me. I frowned and shook my head._


	11. Chapter 10. A Modern Man.

Chapter 10. A Modern Man.

On Friday morning, the day before my plans to go to Seattle with Edward, I rushed out the door barely five seconds after Renee drove away and I still wasn't fast enough to beat him. He was holding open the door to his car before I had my front door locked. I laughed, shaking my head. He'd been waiting in front of my house to drive me to school every morning for two weeks and I had taken it upon myself to try to be waiting outside for him for once. I hadn't shared my goal with him, but he seemed to suspect; he was smirking at me as I hurried across the lawn to get out of the rain. It never seemed to bother him that he ended up with wet hair and damp shoulders every morning.

"How do you _do_ that?" I demanded, slipping slightly on the wet concrete as I passed him. He caught me by the hand to steady me and held on, using our grasp as leverage to lower me safely into the seat.

He didn't mention my clumsiness – I thought he was probably used to it by now – as he started the car.

"Alice," he said simply.

"Are you ever going to explain that?" I eyed him curiously. He had been making cryptic comments for two weeks about his _strange_ sister and her _good reasons_ and her _hunches_.

I was watching his face, so I saw him glance at me out of the corner of his eye. He smirked. "I'm kind of enjoying keeping you in the dark," he admitted. "It's nice to turn the tables on you."

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed, scowling when he laughed. "I have truthfully answered every single question you've ever asked me! I do not keep my thoughts from you."

He had asked me a lot of questions, more even, I was sure, than I had asked him. It was overwhelming sometimes, the amount of information he demanded from me. Sometimes, the questions were so trivial and so inconsequential that I didn't think anyone had ever though to ask them. It was a shock to realize that he was curious because he had seen these details in other people's thoughts, details that no one cared enough to share, and he wanted to know all of those things about me, too.

"You edit," he accused. "It's very frustrating not to know what you really think."

"Most people think before they speak, Edward," I reminded him. "And besides, I _barely_ edit."

"I've answered all of your questions, too," Edward pointed out quietly. It was true enough; ever since he'd started being forthcoming with me, he had patiently answered every question I had been brave enough to ask him. I wasn't always certain he was telling me the _whole_ truth, though.

"You edit," I shot back. He cocked his head to the side, and didn't argue.

"Alice has a very useful ability," he finally said after several long moments of stubborn quiet between us and then he sighed ruefully. "Sometimes."

"You said you were the only one who can read minds," I remembered, my aggravation melting into curiosity. "What can she do?"

"Alice can see the future," he told me.

 _Ah_. That actually made a lot of sense when I thought back to all the odd comments he'd made about his sister.

"She had a, what, a vision? That she and I would be friends?" I asked, remembering something he had said early in the week.

"Yes." He nodded, frowning. "And she's been telling me precisely when to arrive in the morning."

"Cheater." I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. "Did she tell you that I was trying to be out there before you arrived?"

"She did."

"I bet Alice saw me coming," I said smugly, thinking of the way they had both stared at me when I was getting my schedule in the guidance office that first day, before lunch. "Before you ever even smelled my blood, I bet she knew what I would be to you."

He hesitated, and the steering wheel creaked as his fists tightened around it. I saw the grimace on his face, but before I could demand he tell me what he was thinking, he shook his head. "Alice's visions are subjective. The future is always in flux; it changes with each new decision someone makes."

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Why are you agitated?"

It was the best description I could come up with, though I hadn't thought I would ever think to describe Edward as agitated. He didn't answer me, and we sat in silence until he pulled the car into the lot and put it in park.

"Did she see something about me?" I whispered, staring at him as he stared out the windshield. "Something you want to change?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to stop it," Edward muttered and leaned over the center console as he did every morning and laid his head in the curve of my neck, inhaling deeply. Desensitizing.

When he pulled back after a few minutes, he was smiling at me, but I could still see the slightest hint of tension in his eyes.

"Can I ask you a question, Bella?" he said.

"More questions?" I said, trying for levity, but still frowning over his secrecy. "What is it?"

"About tomorrow," he began, and I worried briefly that he was going to cancel on me before he continued. "Did you really need to go to Seattle? Or are you open to other options?"

"Oh." I shrugged. It didn't really matter to me, so long as he was willing to spend it with me. "Seattle was just an excuse to get out of going to the dance. I'm open to suggestions."

"Well, the weather is going to clear up later this evening and last through the day tomorrow," he said. "So I'll be spending the day away from the public and I was wondering if you would like to spend it with me."

"Sure," I said. Because, yeah, _of course_ I wanted to spend the day alone with him; it didn't really matter what we were doing. "What did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking of taking you for a hike," he said.

I grimaced. Hiking? In the woods? Over unsteady ground and branches and slippery rocks? With a vampire who detested moving slowly? He smiled, seemed to guess what I was thinking.

"I'll move at your pace," he promised. "And I'll show you what I meant. About the sun."

He'd dropped that bomb when he was driving me home on Tuesday. Apparently, the sun didn't harm vampires – that was just a myth – but it did have some effect on them that he hadn't been able to describe to me.

"Hiking sounds great," I said brightly. He smirked at me, not buying my lie, and then sighed.

"I should have let you drive yourself this morning, but I couldn't stand to wait any longer to see you," he said. "Alice and I are leaving after lunch to go hunt. I want to curb the temptation as much as possible."

"I can get a ride home with Mike or Jessica, I'm sure," I told him, trying to hide my disappointment. I liked our car rides; I liked the conversations we shared during them.

"That's not necessary," he said. "I'll have Alice drop your truck off."

The first bell rang just then and I jumped, looking outside to see everyone heading towards their classes.

"Crap," I said, fumbling for the door handle. Edward was already there, holding a hand out for my books.

What could Alice possibly have seen about me that would make Edward so uneasy? It couldn't be anything that I did wrong. It couldn't be that I would betray them, accidentally let something slip. I would _never_ do that. But what could it be? It gnawed at me all morning. I couldn't concentrate in class, couldn't feign interest in Jessica's retelling of her date with Mike the night before. Eventually, she stopped trying to engage with me, and I was able to concentrate on the enigma that was Alice Cullen's precognition.

He met me outside of my Spanish class, as he had every day this week, and gave me a confused look as he took my books in one hand, and my hand in his other. "Why does Jessica Stanley think we're in an argument?"

"Probably because I've been deep in thought all morning and haven't really talked much to her," I said.

"What have you been thinking about?" he asked warily, though I was sure he suspected. I turned and led him off the concrete path leading to the cafeteria, off into the soggy grass and under a tree.

"Did Alice see me… like you?" I demanded in a whisper. "Is that what you're so upset about?"

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"Has Alice ever been wrong before?" I asked. His hesitation was all the answer I needed: no, she hadn't.

"She will be this time. That's all that matters," he promised, and I could tell by the way he stroked a hand gently down my arm that he thought he was comforting me. I frowned and shook my head.

"But, Edward, what if I decide that I _want_ it to happen? What if I decide that I want to be with you forever?" I said. "How do you plan to stop that?"

I wasn't stupid. I had only really, truly known Edward for a couple weeks; it was way too soon for me to be making decisions about immortality and spending _forever_ – actual, real, unending forever – with him. All I knew was that I liked him a lot, and if my feelings for him kept intensifying, and so did his for me, well then we could discuss the possibility when it came up.

"Simple. I've already decided not to change you," he said firmly, as if that dissolved the issue.

I stared at him, wondering how it had come to this, to him making a decision on his own about my future, a future that his own clairvoyant sister had already seen coming. Settling on the realization that his decision not to change me hadn't erased Alice's vision, I frowned at him and spoke slowly. "Too bad you're not the only vampire I know."

"Carlisle would never turn someone who wasn't already dying," he said, completely missing the fact that I had been thinking of his entire family, not just his father. "And it won't come to that; I won't let anything happen to you."

"I could ask someone else," I said.

He froze, his eyebrows shooting up, and frowned. Apparently, he hadn't realized that I was debating my options rather than discussing my fears, and the realization made him unhappy. "You don't know any of them."

"I know _of_ them," I pointed out.

"They would never..." He stopped short and hissed, that same low warning sound he had made when Rosalie had been glaring at me at lunch on Monday.

"Hi, Bella."

Edward scowled at the high, musical tinkle of a voice behind me. I turned slowly to see Alice Cullen, eyes a dim yellow like her brother's, standing several feet away, her black hair sleek and shiny against her pale-white skin even in the humidity.

"Hello, Alice. It's so nice to meet you," I said shyly, suddenly acutely aware of how frizzy my hair was, and then turned to Edward with one eyebrow raised. Hadn't he told me that Alice was certain she and I were going to be best friends? My future best friend would probably be willing to help me out.

He growled at me, baring his teeth, but I wasn't afraid of him.

"In a moment," he snapped harshly, flicking his hand impatiently at his sister to send her away. I wondered what she had thought at him.

"I'll see you on Sunday, Bella," Alice told me with a sure smile, totally unaffected by Edward's temper, and flitted away, her movement so smooth it looked as though she might have been a ballerina in another life.

"Bella, you can't be serious about this," Edward snapped. "Be reasonable. You don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about _possibilities_ , Edward," I said, trying to stay calm, trying not to throw the same temper back at him that he was radiating. "Not certainties. Some day, maybe… you don't know where we'll be, what we'll want."

"I don't care where we are, I won't let you," Edward snarled.

" _Don't_ try to tell me what I can and can't do, Edward. If I have to remind you that it's not the early 1900s one more time, so help me…" I trailed off with a growl of my own for him. "You don't own me. You don't make my decisions for me. And you do _not_ control me. _You_ _never will_."

He glowered at me, and his eyes were tinged black with rage. "You don't know what you're saying," he snapped through clenched teeth.

"And you _do_ _not_ _know_ what I'm capable of understanding!" I wrenched my books from his grip and turned on my heel to stalk away from him. "Have a good _hike_ ," I spat at him over my shoulder.

I was halfway to the cafeteria when I noticed Emmett Cullen and Jasper and Rosalie Hale watching me from near the gym. I bared my teeth in the silent snarl I'd seen Edward do before, and saw shock and amusement flash across three impossibly beautiful faces before I stalked out of their sight.

"You're not sitting with Cullen today?" Mike asked when I dropped into the seat between Jessica and Angela.

"No," I said angrily, and then had to work to cool my temper when I saw Jessica's eyebrows shoot up. "He's not feeling well, so his sister took him home."

My mood did not improve over the course of the afternoon, especially when I kept catching glimpses of Lauren Mallory in gym, sending me snide little glances. Apparently word had spread that Edward and I had an argument under a tree at lunch, and she felt the need to gloat. For the first time, when I sent the volleyball flying into the back of her head, it wasn't an accident.

Because we were mad at each other, I was surprised to see my big, ugly red truck in the parking lot - in the spot Edward's car had been - when I walked out after school. I supposed, even when he was upset with me, Edward didn't want to leave me stranded. It was better than I could say for some _human_ boys.

I woke early Saturday morning – before the sun was fully up – to a tapping on my window. My heart stopped, and then slammed in my chest, when I rolled over and saw Edward's face on the other side of the glass. All too aware of my too-big sleep shirt with the hole at my thigh, I raced to the window on the tips of my toes and slid it open. He was hanging there, simply holding himself in place with what seemed to be no effort at all, his hands braced on either side of the window sill.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered when he slid inside, graceful and silent.

He looked around my room quickly, but I was certain it was enough time for him to take in more than I would have liked. I wished I would have taken the time to pick my clothes up off the floor last night like I'd planned. He kept a safe distance from me, and I wondered if he was worried he wasn't desensitized enough after nearly eighteen hours apart. Then, he met my gaze, and I saw the apprehension in them and remembered that the last words we'd exchanged had been in anger and frustration.

He had growled at me.

It hadn't really had much of an effect on me at the time, but later, replaying the fight on my drive home, it had only made me angrier. How _dare_ he try to scare me so I would stop arguing with him? Regardless of the fact that it hadn't worked, it was unacceptable.

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday, Bella," he murmured. "I'm ashamed of myself."

"What are you apologizing for?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. It was one thing for him to realize he needed to apologize. I needed to know that he knew _why_ he needed to apologize.

He looked shocked. "Bella, I growled at you! As if you were prey! I will _never_ do that again, I swear to you."

I nodded, but didn't relax my posture. "Is that all?"

He frowned, and sighed, and shook his head, clenching his jaw. "I shouldn't have spoken to you the way that I did. It was very disrespectful, and I hope you can forgive me. I can only promise to try not to do so again."

He was getting there, but he didn't seem to know what had truly angered me the most. I could see that he wanted to, though, and that he wanted to make amends. He wanted to make this work. I bit my lip; I could feel myself beginning to soften for him.

"That's a good start, but you can't make decisions _for_ me, Edward," I told him. "Why don't you try to make decisions _with_ me instead?"

He reached out hesitantly to touch my cheek. "I'm a product of my time, Bella, and I've been without a partner for the whole of my very long life. It's not easy to remember that relationships, and the expectations that go along with them, have changed drastically, but I want to work on it with you. Can you be patient and help me achieve that?"

Slowly, I let my arms fall to my sides as I studied his face. He did look properly ashamed and contrite. I wondered if he had endured hell from Alice all night. She had, after all, witnessed our argument first hand.

I decided to forgive him. Everyone, even a one hundred and twenty year-old vampire, deserved a second chance. Especially when he was recognizing the need to work toward changing himself, and promising to try. "Yes. I can help to modernize you."

Immediately, I felt all the tension and frustration I had been holding onto for the past eighteen or so hours slide away. For a split second, when I brushed his hand aside, he looked hurt, but then I stepped forward, into him, and wrapped my arms around his lean waist. I pressed my face to his cool, firm chest and felt him still and stiffen momentarily, before he wrapped his arms around me and held me to him. He buried his face in my hair and breathed me in.

"I don't like arguing with you," I mumbled against his chest in a very small voice.

"Neither do I," Edward said. "So let's take this as a lesson in communication, and try to limit how often it happens in the future."

"I can work with that," I told him.

We stood like that for a very long time. The sky outside was almost its usual grey instead of nighttime black by the time Edward drew back.

"I have to admit, I didn't only come here to apologize," he told me.

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows at him, prompting him to explain.

"I was wondering if you still wanted to spend the day with me," he said softly, stroking my hair, "or if you were too angry."

"Well, I'm not mad at you anymore, so…" I said, trailing off with a smile.

"I'll be back at nine, then. There will be enough cloud cover still," he promised with a soft smile of his own. "Tell your parents. I want to meet them. I _want_ them to know you'll be with me. Please."

"Okay," I said reluctantly, then stiffened in his arms. It was so easy for him to get in here; suddenly, I was terrified it wasn't his first time climbing through my window. "Edward? Have you ever been in my room before?"

"No. I may have been tempted at first, before I knew if you could be trusted, but I couldn't cross that boundary," he said.

"Good." My relief was like a tangible thing in the air around us.

Curiosity flashed bright in his amber eyes. "Why?"

Frantic, I cast around for a plausible excuse. There was no way I could tell him that I was just really worried he had seen the way I tended to spend my nights before drifting off to a fitful sleep: touching myself and wishing it was him.

"Because that would be creepy," I blurted out.

"True, it would. But that's not the only reason. Tell me," he demanded.

I could see that he was going to press me for an answer, and I was very much beginning to regret questioning him in the first place when he froze. He looked towards the bedroom door and then broke free of my arms still on his waist and stepped to the window.

"Your parents are awake. I'll see you soon," he said in a low whisper, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

When my door creaked open and Renee peeked her head in, I was gathering my clothes from the floor and throwing them into the hamper in my closet. I would have to get better about that – I didn't want Edward to think I was a slob.

"Good morning, Mom," I said.

"I thought I heard voices," she said, looking around suspiciously.

"Oh, sorry." I nodded at my phone charging next to my bed. "I was talking to Madison. I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No." Renee shook her head and took a few steps further into the room, eyes scanning again, as if expecting to see a boy she'd missed on first inspection. "How is Madison?"

"She's okay, I guess." I shrugged. I had spoken to her a couple nights before, so I figured it was still probably true. "She and Conner are getting pretty serious, so she's happy, you know?"

"Bella." She sat on my bed, now, and looked at me sadly. "Honey, I want to talk to you. Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, Mom. I'm fine," I said.

"It's just that I know you miss Phoenix and your friends there," she explained. "And your father and I know that we didn't give you much of a say in things before you and I moved back in here with him."

"Yeah, well. I mean… I'm your kid. Isn't that how it goes? You decide to pick up and move your life, then that means me too. Right?" I turned my back to her, scoping out my closet to see what I should wear today.

"Bella, look at me," Renee said, using a stern voice I so rarely ever heard from her, so I did as she asked. "I know how this place used to make me feel when I wasn't much older than you are. It's different for me now. I'm not so restless. I'm ready to settle down here and have a life with your father. But you've been so distant lately. Ever since we got here it's like all you do is go to school and then sit in your room, and I'm just so worried about you. If you feel like being in Phoenix is better for you, then we can talk about it. We can figure something out. Your father and I just want what's best for you."

I stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded. Why couldn't she have felt this way months ago? Actually, I was glad she hadn't felt this way sooner because then I wouldn't be with Edward now. I would be back in Phoenix, happy enough, believing that vampires were just scary monsters in stories. And how tragic would that be?

"I don't know, Mom," I said slowly, suddenly worried that I was about to be shipped away from Edward. "Forks isn't so bad, you know? It's actually… kind of nice."

"Forks is nice?" she repeated, inspecting me closely.

"Yeah! You know, I have friends now. Mike and Jessica and Angela and everyone, and they're really nice and they include me in things like La Push a couple weeks ago, and the Blacks, and I…" I paused, took a deep breath because I knew she had zeroed in on the way my face was growing red. "Mom, I don't want to go back to Phoenix anymore. I just needed to give Forks a chance."

How could I go back to Phoenix now? Sure, there was Madison, and I was sure there were still other people there who would talk to me despite the stupid mix-up with Dylan and Alana. But there was no Edward in Phoenix, could be no Edward in Phoenix because he couldn't live in places where there was sunshine all day every day.

She looked at me for a long while, and then nodded. She stood and walked over to me, placed her hands on either side of my face, and kissed my forehead. "You can tell me things, Bella," she said quietly. "You don't have to keep it all to yourself."

"Yeah, I know," I said. And I did know that. And it was probably the perfect opportunity to tell her about Edward. But I wasn't ready yet. I needed to clear my head first. "I need to take a shower."

"Okay," she said with a concerned frown. "I'll see you downstairs. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom," I said as she walked out the door.

I heard her footsteps on the stairs, heard her teasing my father for some mishap he had made in the kitchen while she was talking to me, and closed the bathroom door behind me, feeling guilty. I hadn't been fair to my parents lately. I had let them believe I was miserable this whole time and, sure, at first I was. But I was definitely not miserable anymore, hadn't been in a while. It was time to come clean.

I was downstairs, dressed in jeans, my only pair of hiking boots, and a long flannel, my hair twisted into a braid down my back, by 8:45. I could have been ready earlier, but I was putting off speaking to my parents. There was no point in lying to myself about it; I was a coward. I had never brought a boy home before. There had never been a boy to bring home before. I didn't know how they would react, but I could only imagine it would be painfully awkward for me. Edward would probably enjoy himself, though.

"Morning, Bells," Charlie said when I walked into the kitchen. He and Renee were sitting at the shabby kitchen table eating burnt toast and dry eggs and drinking too-strong coffee by the smell of it.

I nodded and grabbed a plain bagel out of the pantry, smearing it with cream cheese. I took a bite while I poured myself a glass of orange juice, finishing as quickly as I could there at the counter. It was now or never. If I didn't tell them before he got here, it would only be even worse, and so much more awkward. That, and Edward would likely never let me live it down.

"I have a date with Edward Cullen today," I blurted out as I rinsed my cup. Behind me, I heard a tiny cough as Charlie swallowed his coffee wrong. Renee cut off mid-sentence while telling a story about the dog who liked to sleep on the stoop outside of her new studio.

"What?" Charlie demanded hoarsely.

"How exciting!" Renee said.

"He's going to be here soon," I said, turning around to face them and leaning against the counter, gnawing on my lip. "He wants to meet you."

"I don't like it. He's too old for you," Charlie said quickly.

"We're in the same grade, Dad." I rolled my eyes, though technically he was right. I supposed it was all a matter of semantics, but I didn't really consider him too old for me; Edward may have held the knowledge of a century's worth of learning, but he was still seventeen, wasn't he?

" _Charlie!_ " Renee hissed, and turned to me with a wide grin. "We're so happy for you, Bella."

"Which one is he"? Charlie asked, his red face scrunching unhappily as he tried to picture all of the Cullens.

"The youngest one, with the reddish-brown hair," I told him. Edward _looked_ younger than the rest of his family, but Charlie was still turning steadily more purple. "Dad you _like_ the Cullens. You said so yourself. You didn't talk to Billy for over year because he was rude about them."

"That was before you were dating one of them," he grumbled, but grew quiet when Renee swiped at his arm with the newspaper she had been scanning.

"Is this the same Edward who drove you home from Port Angeles the other week?" Renee asked, eager for more information. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"I don't know, Mom," I said, my voice pitching upwards close to a whine. I _really_ didn't want to do this right now, especially not with Charlie looking like he had a whole egg lodged in his throat. "Yeah, I guess, but it's kind of new, so please don't make it weird."

"I knew it!" Renee exclaimed triumphantly. "Is he cute? Oh, I bet he's cute!"

"Well, you'll find out in a few minutes. He's picking me up at nine," I said, glancing at the clock. Only five more minutes.

"Where is he taking you at nine o'clock in the morning on a Saturday?" Charlie demanded, but his blood pressure was visibly dropping as he calmed himself, his face slowly fading back to his normal coloring.

"We're going hiking." When both of my parents paused and exchanged a glance, I scowled at them. "I don't know where, so I'm not sure when we'll be back."

" _You're_ going hiking?" Charlie repeated, blinking stupidly at me.

" _Yes_ ," I said through gritted teeth. "The Cullens are all really into the outdoors. Especially when the weather is nice."

That was their story, anyway. I figured it would be best to stick to it.

"You must really like this boy," Renee said and I glared at her, my face burning.

There was a knock at the door and I hurried to answer it. It had only been a little more than two hours since I'd seen him, but it was like taking a breath of fresh air when I opened the door. Then I saw the amusement twinkling in his topaz eyes and my stomach dropped. It was anyone's guess _what_ was going through Charlie and Renee's minds right now.

"Don't do that," I hissed. "Tune them out or something."

He only smiled at me and said, at a normal volume, "Good morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you. How did you sleep?" I said, glancing over my shoulder to see that Renee was peeking around the kitchen doorway to get a glimpse of Edward.

"Oh, come on in!" Renee said, rushing forward when she realized I had spotted her.

"Yeah, make yourself at home," Charlie said, sounding less sincere as he followed Renee into the foyer.

"Chief Swan, Mrs. Swan, I'm Edward Cullen," he said, brushing past me to step inside as if I wasn't intentionally trying to keep him from my parents. "I wanted to formally introduce myself and thank you for allowing me to take Bella out today."

"Edward, please call me Renee, and this is Charlie," Renee said, laying a hand on my father's arm. "Oh, here, let me take your jacket."

"No, don't take off your jacket," I said quickly, and grabbed his arm to stop him when he started to comply. "We're leaving in a minute."

"There's no rush," Edward said, but wisely did as I asked. "The trail isn't going anywhere."

"Which trail are you hiking today, Edward?" Charlie said. "Nothing too dangerous, I hope?"

"Oh, there's a trail on the Elk Creek Conservation Area," Edward said lightly. "It runs along the creek and it's got some really lovely views. Bella will be perfectly safe with me; it's just too nice a day to spend indoors."

"I know which one you're talking about," Charlie said with an approving nod, then tilted his head in my direction. "Nice and easy."

"Dad," I said with a pained grimace.

"Charlie," Renee said, coming to the rescue. "Let's not keep them. Edward's right; it is too nice a day to waste."

"Yeah, Edward, let's go," I said, putting my hands on his biceps and trying to push him out the door. He humored me by taking several steps back toward the door.

"Ah, just a minute, Bell," Charlie said, stopping me with a hand on my arm.

"I'll wait outside, Bella," Edward said. "It was really nice to meet you."

"Oh, you too, Edward. You're welcome here anytime," Renee said, almost giddy under Edward's smile.

"Not _any_ time," Charlie corrected sternly. "Daylight hours, when Renee and I are home."

"Yes, Charlie, of course," Edward said sagely.

"Dad!" I said again, and turned to Edward with what I was sure was a very red face. "I'll be right out, Edward."

He was smiling, laughing softly as he stepped out onto the front porch.

"What?" I demanded, turning to face my parents with a scowl.

"I want you to take this," Charlie said seriously, placing a small black canister in the palm of my hand. Inspecting it, I realized it was a canister of police grade pepper spray. "You remember those self defense moves I showed you, right?"

"Oh, my God. That is so unnecessary. Edward's really great," I said, but I slid the pepper spray into my pocket anyway, knowing it was the quickest way to get out of the house. "Can I please go now?"

"Yes," Renee said before Charlie could protest, stepping in front of him to cut him out of the conversation. She gripped my arms in her hands and kissed me on the forehead. "He seems very sweet and _so_ _handsome_. You have a good time."

"Thanks, love you, bye!" I said, turning on my heel and running out the door before either of them could say anymore.

Edward was waiting by the passenger's door as he did every morning, chuckling at the expression on my face.

"Don't say _anything_. This is all your fault," I said, but I was smiling too as I slipped past him and slid into the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!
> 
> I hope that my attempts to make Edward more respectful of Bella's boundaries and expectations, and more willing to change to fit the times and to foster a healthy relationship are coming across and not in a way that seems forced or overdone. I just get so tired of Edward pushing his views, his wants and concerns on Bella and ignoring her when she says, clearly and firmly, that she doesn't agree, that she doesn't want things the ways he's determined to have them. It isn't healthy. Just because he has more life experience than her (but does he? It feels like all he's done is go to school), that doesn't make him right all the time. There has to be give and take, there has to be compromise. I hope it works for you guys.
> 
> Also, he's not a creepy stalker. He hasn't broken into her room to watch over her while she sleeps; he doesn't know what she does at night when she can't sleep. Yet. ;)
> 
> Next up, a continuation. Edward and Bella's hike, and a cute little date in the meadow.
> 
> _Chapter 11. Carried Away._
> 
> _I did as he asked, stopping close to the center of the meadow before I turned to face him. He had taken off his shirt and placed it on a low hanging branch nearby. My heart stuttered, and then took off racing as I gazed on his bare chest and stomach. I had known he would be beautiful if I ever got to see more of him, but this exceeded all of my expectations. His skin, pale and smooth, stretched taut over lean, defined muscles. He wasn't big like Emmett, or intimidating the way I imagined Jasper would look, but strong and stunning._


	12. Chapter 11. Carried Away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Last chapter:_
> 
> _"Oh, my God. That is so not necessary. Edward's really great," I said, but I slid the pepper spray into my pocket anyway, knowing it was the quickest way to get out of the house. "Can I please go now?"_
> 
> _"Yes," Renee said before Charlie could protest, stepping in front of him to cut him out of the situation. She gripped my arms in her hands and kissed me on the forehead. "He seems very sweet and so handsome. You have a good time."_
> 
> _"Thanks, love you, bye!" I said, turning on my heel and running out the door before either of them could say anymore._
> 
> _Edward was waiting by the passenger's door as he did every morning, chuckling at the expression on my face._
> 
> _"Don't say anything. This is all your fault," I said, but I was smiling too as I slid into the car._

He didn't press me about our interrupted conversation earlier, didn't demand answers about why I was so inexorably relieved he hadn't ever used his abilities to spy on me in the night. I wasn't naïve enough to hope he'd forgotten; I knew he was just biding his time.

"I didn't lie to your father," Edward said as he led me into the forest at a spot not marked by any trailheads. "There _is_ a very nice trail along Elk Creek. That's just not where we're going."

"This isn't a nice and easy hike, is it?" I asked, already struggling to climb over the fallen tree Edward had just leapt over, his worn brown hiking boots clearing it by more than a foot.

He turned and lifted me over the tree, simply reached out and wrapped one arm around my waist and lifted me with ease. I could only imagine the expression on my face as he set me down beside him with a smirk.

"I've got you, Bella," he assured me, keeping close as he continued to lead me through the forest. He wore a faded orange backpack, but he wouldn't tell me what was inside.

"So, why aren't we going where you implied to my parents?" I asked, stumbling over a fallen branch on the ground.

Edward took my hand to steady me, and then didn't release it. "Perhaps it's safer this way," he said with a sidelong glance at me. He'd held my hand before, when we were at school, but I hadn't been certain then if he was doing it because he _wanted_ to or if it was to keep up appearances for our classmates. Now, alone in the woods, it was clear it was only for us. It made me smile as my heart sang happily.

"Elk Creek will be crowded today," he said, and I remembered the entire reason for this hike was so we could be alone, so I could see him in the sun. Looking up, I saw beams of warm yellow light peeking through the foliage. No, it wouldn't do to be around a crowd of people today if the sun had some visible affect on him.

"I know I'm holding you back," I told him regretfully. "You would probably already be there – wherever you're taking me – if not for me. "

"Yes, I would." Edward agreed, but he didn't look annoyed when he turned his face towards me with a smile. "But I don't mind moving slowly when I'm with you."

I felt my face flush at his soft words; he had said it before, but it was different when he was actually doing it. I smiled shyly back at him, but of course he focused on my cheeks. "You, um, you never did say where we're actually going."

"There's a clearing about five miles up ahead," he told me, dragging his gaze up to my eyes with what looked like great effort. "It's secluded and seldom visited, and it will be sunny."

 _Five miles_? I could walk five miles; it would be fine. But it would take a while – at least two hours, maybe even longer. I didn't know if I could be that patient. I wanted to see why he and his family always disappeared when the weather was nice. I wanted to see _him_.

"I wish I could move at your pace," I grumbled.

"Well, you could…" Edward stopped. Very slowly, he turned to look at me, enthusiasm radiant in his expression. "Do you trust me?"

"Obviously," I said, gesturing around to indicate our absolute solitude.

"May I?" When he grinned at me like that, his eyes lighting up and his face transforming into a boyish sort of elation, I could deny him nothing. I nodded, struck dumb. He was practically vibrating with anticipation as he scooped me up into his arms and held me close to his chest. I didn't realize what he was doing until he told me to hold on tight; heart hammering, I wound my arms around his cool neck in a vice-like grip that would have had a human boy choking. Edward didn't even seem to notice.

Then he was moving, and we were flying through the forest. Trees passed us by so quickly they were hardly a blur in my vision. It was so quick – maybe a minute, maybe less; he came to a sudden halt on the edge of a pretty little meadow full of purple flowers blooming and stretching up towards the sun. They waved a bit, as if in cheerful greeting, in the slight breeze.

I slid out of his grasp quickly, and then sat in a pile of dirt and leaves when my legs felt like jelly.

"Bella, are you okay?" Edward asked, leaning over me, concern creasing his forehead and between his eyes.

"Yes, I just think we may have left my heart, oh I don't know, four miles back?" I panted, laughing breathlessly and shaking my head. "I'm fine, Edward. I just need to sit for a minute."

"I'm sorry. That was a mistake. I shouldn't have done that." He was frowning now, and I was sad to see the delight leave his face.

I struggled to my feet and Edward backed away quickly thinking, probably, that I was afraid of him now. I walked to him and slid my arms around his waist like I had just hours ago in my bedroom, and rested my head against his chest.

"It wasn't a mistake, Edward, and you have nothing to apologize for," I mumbled. "I'm glad you shared that with me. I just didn't know what it would be like. Next time, it'll probably even be fun."

"Next time?" he repeated, drawing back slightly to peer down at my face. Whatever he saw made him smile again, and my heart seemed to hum with contentment at the sight.

"So," I said, taking a step back so I could look at him without craning my neck. "Is it time?"

"Why don't you go on ahead," he suggested, gesturing with one slender hand that I should walk out into the light without him.

I did as he asked, stopping close to the center of the meadow before I turned to face him. He had taken off his shirt and placed it on a low hanging branch nearby. My heart stuttered, and then took off racing as I gazed on his bare chest and stomach. I'd known he would be beautiful if I ever got to see more of his skin, but this exceeded all of my expectations. His skin, pale and smooth, stretched taut over lean, defined muscles. He wasn't big like Emmett, or intimidating the way I imagined Jasper might look, but strong and stunning.

"I've never shown anyone before," he called, and I knew he wasn't referring to his chest.

"What? None of your past human girlfriends got this honor?" I said.

He gave me a strange look, full of trepidation and uncertainty and a hint of amusement, and stepped out into the sunlight.

I blinked, shocked. His skin, nearly translucent despite the flush of the previous night's hunting trip, reflected the sunlight, rainbows dancing off his flesh like he was made of diamonds. He approached me slowly, cautiously, as if he was worried I would be frightened of him. There was nothing alarming about the sight of him, though. I met him a little less than halfway across the meadow and brushed my hand lightly along his arm. He felt the same as ever to my touch: cold and firm.

"Bella, you're the only girlfriend I've ever had," he told me, laying his other glittering hand on the side of my throat.

"The only human," I said; after a hundred and twenty years, the distinction seemed important.

But Edward shook his head, his hand sliding up my neck to cup my cheek.

"So, what, just casual encounters and whatnot?" I asked. I was trying so hard to keep my head, but with his proximity and his glittering skin and the talk about his sexual history, I was quickly losing it.

He was leaning in, his face drawing closer so that I barely saw him shake his head again. The movement threw reflective rainbows dancing in my vision, and I snorted. Edward paused and looked at me in confusion. I knew he was frustrated that he couldn't see into my mind and figure out why I was laughing, but when I tried to explain to him, all I could do was gasp, and laugh harder.

It took several minutes before I could regain some control. Edward had taken several steps back and was standing a few feet away again, watching me with that annoyed expectant expression he had when I took too long to get my thoughts together.

"I'm so sorry, I don't mean to laugh. I really don't," I said, breathless with giggles. "It's just… you're like this apex predator, right? You hunt _mountain_ _lions_ and you can stop a car with your bare hands and move faster than the speed of light and you're practically indestructible, but you don't use any of it day-to-day and you play piano, like, so delicately and you've never used your insanely good looks to your advantage before and you're always so gentle with me and _you sparkle in the sunlight_. You're absolutely incredible and beautiful and _it's_ _just_ _so_ _ridiculous_!"

I held my hands out to him, pursing my lips to keep from emitting another round of giggles. "Please come back, I'm sorry."

"You think I'm ridiculous?" Edward said stiffly.

"I think it's ridiculous that you even exist. I think it's unbelievable that you're real, and you're here, and you've chosen to be with _me_ of all people," I said, still reaching out to him. "But you're not ridiculous. You're fantastic."

He closed the gap again, utilizing that breathtaking speed, just appeared directly in front of me. I didn't startle, my gaze roving his face.

"Who else would I want to be with?" Edward whispered, his eyes narrowed like he was genuinely trying to think of an answer and coming up blank. "You're magnificent."

I held my breath as he began to lower his face to mine, tried my hardest to stay still under the force of his very cautious gaze. He laid one hand on my neck again, feeling my pulse skitter, I was sure, and placed the other on my waist. For a moment, he just stood there, and breathed.

And then, he kissed me. Softly, carefully, just a brush of his lips on mine. My breath came out in a _whoosh_ when he pulled his head back, and I felt my heart pounding faster than ever before in my chest. He lowered his forehead to my neck after sending me a small, reassuring smile. "Don't worry; I'm quite in control."

"Well, I'm not," I said weakly and let my hands trail up his back and into his hair. He laughed.

"You never react the way I anticipate," he breathed against my skin, and I could feel his smile on my throat. He lifted his head when I turned my face, and I met his lips again hungrily.

Not diamonds, I realized later as we sat together on a blanket he had laid out in the grass. He was leaning back on his hands, his face tilted towards the sky as a small smile played on his lips while I leaned against his side inspecting his holographic neck. His flesh wasn't comprised of diamonds, but regular skin, a bit firmer and more durable than the average human's, perhaps, but still skin. It was as if there was glitter in every pore of his body, catching the light and throwing it back, transformed into little rainbows dancing all around.

Most of the morning passed in this fashion: kissing and then pausing so that I could stare at him for a while, and then kissing some more, and then pausing so that he could breathe me in.

Biting my lip, I shifted and threw my leg over his so that I was straddling his lap, our chests pressed together and my arms around the back of his neck. He froze, and the only sign that he wasn't a statue was that his eyes opened slowly, liquid gold staring straight at me.

I wasn't lying when I told him I wasn't in control; I'd been wanting to kiss him for weeks now, had endured his soft touches and desensitizing against my throat every morning in his car. Now that I could finally kiss him, I didn't know if I could ever stop. When I pressed my mouth to his again, his arms came up around my back as he straightened, allowing me to deepen the kiss if I wished. Of course, I definitely wished. I remembered, after a long moment, that I needed to breathe even if he didn't, and I broke away reluctantly with a gasp.

"Can I ask you now why you were so comforted to know this morning was my first time in your room?" His breath fanned across my face, cool and soft and enticing.

My heart, already so unsteady, stuttered and my cheeks bloomed with a fresh, embarrassed flush. I shook my head. "Definitely not."

"Okay." He smirked, and I realized he had his own theories about me now. "Later, then."

He shifted, lowered me to my back on the ground, and moved his lips to my neck, pressing a few quick kisses along my jugular before he lowered his head to my chest, ear over my heart. I threaded my fingers in his soft, thick hair.

"Desensitizing?" I asked quietly.

"No." I felt the movement as he shook his head. "I want to… if I can't hear your thoughts, I want to at least be able to pick your heartbeat out of the crowd and know you're there."

"I don't think my heart is behaving particularly normally right now," I pointed out. I wondered if he enjoyed the way I was massaging his scalp, or if he even felt it at all. "I'm practically on the verge of cardiac arrest. Not sure how well that will serve you."

I was moved, though, by his sentiment. I tried unsuccessfully to pull his head up by the hair, but he seemed not to feel the gentle tugs. Then he lifted his head to grin at me and I realized he knew exactly what I wanted.

"How am I going to concentrate on anything else ever again, knowing we could be doing _this_ instead?" I wondered aloud as he lowered his mouth to mine.

"How am _I_?" he whispered against my lips.

A small, satisfied mewl sounded in my throat when his tongue touched mine. I was beginning to understand why Madison had decided to sleep with Conner after only two months together. If kissing Edward was like this, what would sex be like?

"So, you've never dated or… or _anything_?" I asked much later. I didn't know how to say what I meant: had he slept around? "I get staying away from human girls, but I mean, you must have come across other vampires."

Edward stroked his hand through my hair, the other playing delicately with my fingers as we lay on the ground, my head on his chest. My lips were sore from all of the kissing, but I wasn't going to tell him that for fear that he would want to limit how often or how long we could kiss. The pleasure of his mouth was worth a little momentary tenderness, as far as I was concerned.

"No," he said quietly. "You're the first person I've ever even kissed. You're the first person I've found interesting enough to put forth the effort."

"Not even before? When you were human?" I said dubiously, thinking not for the first time that he must have been beautiful even then, even before Carlisle's venom had enhanced his looks.

"When I was human, people didn't date in the way that they do now," Edward told me. "I would have courted you, we'd have only spent chaperoned visits together, and I wouldn't have kissed you until after I'd asked your father's blessing for your hand in marriage, and even that would have been very chaste."

The mention of marriage sent a shock rippling down my spine, but I ignored it. He was speaking hypothetically, and of the distant past; it was fine. "Did you court anyone?"

"No." His long fingers trailed lazily down my spine and I knew he had noticed my small reaction. "I would have only been sixteen still when I contracted the Spanish Influenza. I turned seventeen in the hospital, not long before Carlisle changed me."

"But would you remember if you had courted someone?" I asked, pushing up on my elbows so that I was looking down into his face. "Didn't you say you don't remember being human very well?"

"It's not that I forget who I was," he said with a small smile, his teeth gleaming nearly as bright as his skin in the sunlight. "The memories are just hazy, not at all like the clear, focused details I will see when I think about this moment later. In any case, I remember enough to know that I didn't have anyone left after my mother and father died."

And how awful must that have been? To be seventeen and dying slowly, fever burning him from the inside out, and have no one to comfort him? To have no reason to fight, really, because what awaited him outside if he did beat the disease other than loneliness?

"Well, you have a whole family now," I said, trying to push away the sadness that threatened to flood me.

"And you," he said, his fingers twirling through my hair. My stomach rumbled just as he was leaning up to kiss me, and he stopped and laughed. "Lunch time for the human. I forget."

Mortified, I shook my head. "I'm fine," I said, sitting up and crossing my legs as he stood in one fluid motion and began to walk back towards the shade of the trees, where he had left his shirt and his backpack. I just wanted him to come back, to sit with me a while longer, to kiss me whenever I asked him to. I hadn't brought any food – hadn't thought of it – and we wouldn't be able to head back to the road until the sun had mostly set.

But Edward was picking up his backpack and walking back to join me. He set the pack in front of me and then stretched out beside me again, his hands behind his head and feet crossed at the ankles. When he gestured for me to open the bag, I reached for it suspiciously.

And felt my heart melt when I peered inside. He had packed me a lunch.

This vampire who didn't eat food had packed a lunch for me.

I threw myself at him, and kissed him firmly on the mouth. "You're perfect, do you know that?" I whispered.

"I'm glad that you're happy with me," he said when I sat back up to inspect my bounty – he had, once again, provided me with more food than I could possibly consume in a single sitting. Pepperoni pizza and a cold cut sandwich and a coke, several bottles of water, a large bag of potato chips. "But I think it's only fair to tell you that Alice saw you growing hungry."

"Well, then, I guess I should thank Alice," I said, pulling out the slice of pizza and unfolding the aluminum foil keeping it fresh.

"She saw that you would, and she says that you are very welcome and she can't wait to see you tomorrow," Edward said. He was smiling at me as I took a large bite and bit back a moan. It was _so_ _good_ , and somehow still warm.

"Mm, oh yeah," I said, swallowing quickly as I remembered her parting words at lunch the day before. "What's tomorrow?"

"Well, actually, I've been toying with the idea of having you over to meet my family," Edward said slowly. I made great effort not to falter as I brought the pizza back to my lips and took another bite. "Alice has informed me that you are, in fact, going to be coming over."

I nodded slowly, the image of his three other siblings who _were_ _not_ supportive of our relationship coming to mind. "Sounds great."

"Bella." Edward was suddenly sitting up, leaning his face close in front of mine so I could see his earnest expression. "You don't _have_ to if you don't feel comfortable with it. Alice's visions change, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," I said, but I had already made up my mind to go. His "older" siblings needed their chance to voice their concerns, and I deserved the opportunity to reassure them.

"Nobody will hurt you," he said softly.

"I know that, too, Edward." I rolled my eyes. "I'm not afraid they'll want to snack on me. I'm afraid they won't like me. They already don't approve."

"You are so strange," he said, but not as if to insult me. He said it wonderingly, and as if he were reminding himself out loud.

"Yeah, I know that, too," I said brightly and continued to eat. Edward laughed and nuzzled my cheek. When he stretched out next to me again, he did so on his side so that he could see me better.

"I want to ask you something," I told him once I had finished eating and he had moved the bag to the side so that he could rest his head in my lap and let me play with his hair. "But I don't want you to be uncomfortable or feel like you have to lie to protect me."

"Bella, I told you I'll answer all of your questions." I could tell by the way his eyes narrowed and his lips turned down that he knew what I was going to ask. "I will never tell you a lie."

I reached for his hand, hoping that the contact would reassure us both, and began to trace the long slender lines of his fingers. "You said that Jasper is newest to your lifestyle and he struggles with it, and that Emmett has caved a couple times," I began, taking care to keep my voice steady and soft. He was still and silent as he waited for me to say the words he knew were coming. "I was just wondering if you've ever… slipped up."

I expected him to struggle to answer, or to try to sugar coat it at the very least. What I didn't expect was for him to say, "Yes" in a simple, honest, matter-of-fact tone, as if I had asked him if he had ever driven over the speed limit.

"Does that suffice, or would you like more detail?" he asked.

"I want to know everything about you, no matter how long it takes to catch up," I told him. He frowned thoughtfully, and then nodded.

"For almost a decade after Carlisle changed me, I followed his lifestyle. It was easier for me than it is for most because I could see in Carlisle's thoughts the sincerity, the intent and, because I could hear the thoughts of the humans, I was able to distinguish them from prey," Edward said.

"Before long, though, I began to resent Carlisle for setting such strict rules, for having such high expectations, and I resented Esme for loving him blindly enough to so rarely be tempted to break his rules," he continued. "So I left. In 1927, and for the following four years, I went off on my own, and I fed on humans. I tried to justify it to myself as If I was operating under some sort of moral code. You see, because I could read people's thoughts, I was able to choose my victims carefully. I only ever preyed on terrible people – rapists and murderers – and that was good enough for me to be able to live with myself.

"I regained my conscience, though, and I found Carlisle and Esme again, and they took me back graciously, and with nothing but love and acceptance," Edward said. "It was more than I deserved."

He turned his head as he spoke, avoiding looking me in the eyes, and I could see the shame in the set of his jaw, the slant of his eyes.

"I think…" I said slowly, "That you deserve a lot more than you believe."

"Bella, I killed a lot of people," he said, and he sounded angry, frustrated, and ashamed as he lifted his head from my lap and sat up. To my immense relief, he stayed close, even though he didn't touch me. "I consumed them."

"Yeah, I get that. But think of how many you saved." I took his hand and tried to pull him close. Although he didn't pull his hand out of my grasp, he didn't move any closer.

"That's what I used to tell myself as well. If I killed the man stalking the young girl in a dark alley, didn't that mean I was actually doing good?" He shook his head, disgusted. "It was still murder."

I sighed. He was right, but so was I. "Have you hunted humans since you rejoined Carlisle?"

"No," Edward said. "Though I very nearly hunted you."

"But you didn't. You resisted your nature even though you know better than most of your family, maybe except for Jasper, how different it could be, how much better." I frowned and tried again to pull him closer to me. This time, he relented. "I can't even imagine the restraint and self control that took."

"It was murder, yes, and it was awful. But it's in the past. It's been more than eighty years since you've tasted human blood; you've paid your penance, and you're here now and we're both better for it," I said, looking him right in the eyes. "It doesn't change how I feel about you."

He sighed, and it was as if all of the tension and worry melted into relief. When I started to lie down and pulled him down with me, he followed, and he laid his head on my chest again. I wondered how different my heart sounded to him now, when it was full of only affection for him, and not ready to beat right out of my chest.

When he spoke, it was with a quiet reverence that brought tears to my eyes.

"I never thought I was missing out on anything, being on my own. I knew from my family's minds the deep pleasure it could bring. Of sharing yourself with another person – not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally. I knew there was a reason that people paired up, mated for life, and why that practice carried over for some vampires. I just never felt the need for it myself before I met you. I don't know that I'll ever be able to give it up now that I have."

"You won't have to," I said without thinking. But then I realized, he might have to. When I aged and died and he didn't. I didn't have to see his face to know he was thinking the same thing.

He brought me home just as the sun fell back behind the clouds. It was almost five o'clock. We had been together for almost eight hours and not once had I been bored or uncomfortable or wished for solitude.

"I'll pick you up for eleven tomorrow," he said, leaning towards me over the console. I met him in the middle eagerly, my hands settling at the base of his neck easily.

I frowned when he pulled away after only the briefest kiss.

"Does that work for you?" he asked.

"What?" He couldn't be talking about the kiss; he had to know that was not enough for me, not by a long shot.

"Does eleven work for you?" he clarified with a smirk that let me know he had purposely misled me.

"Yeah, sure," I said with a shrug. I had nothing planned for the day.

He frowned uncomfortably when I tried to kiss him again; so rare was it that I saw such an expression on his face that I froze immediately.

"Your parents are watching," he said.

"I don't care," I told him. I would care later, I was sure, probably the second I walked in the door and left him standing on the porch. But for now, I just wanted him to kiss me.

He did, chastely again, and then grinned at me. "You know, I would never have behaved like this when I was human. Would never have had the nerve to kiss you like this before we were married. It just wasn't done."

"I'm sure it was, but the people doing it just didn't make it public knowledge," I told him.

"It's possible," he allowed, inclining his head.

"Oh, would you just kiss me for real this time?" I said, drawing him close again. "You did ask for my help modernizing you."

He laughed, and shook his head. And kissed me again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I've always thought Bella took things just a little too well in canon, you know? Like, she didn't react to Edward's skin in the sun beyond oooh pretty! Even accepting it as reality and thinking it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, you would think you would at least have some feeling of 'is this real life?' So, Bella had a small, slight, barely-there mental break in the form of the giggles, and then she got over it and got down to the kissing lol.
> 
> Let me know what you think, please!
> 
> Next up we have:
> 
> _Chapter 12. Humans and Vampires._
> 
> _"Don't worry, Bella. It was great!" Emmett laughed. He didn't seem to mind that Rosalie didn't look happy with him. "You are going to be one fierce little newborn."_
> 
> _"Emmett," Edward hissed, a low warning._


	13. Chapter 12. Humans and Vampires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains some direct quotes from the book, which will be addressed in greater detail at the bottom.

I was surprised when my parents didn't immediately jump to demand information from me when I finally managed to drag myself inside after my date with Edward. Charlie just asked if I had a nice time and Renee only grinned like I'd never done anything to make her so happy as when I said that yes, I did have a nice time with Edward. I knew they had seen us kissing in his car, and again on the porch just a second before, but they didn't say anything, and they didn't protest when I excused myself to take a shower.

Renee was sitting on my bed when I walked into my room wearing my bathrobe, my hair wrapped up in a towel piled high on my head. I stopped in the door and stared at her. It was clear from the wide, excited smile on her face just what she wanted.

"Mom," I groaned and shook my head. "Please, no."

"Oh, come on! Talk to me! I'm dying here! You've never dated before, so we've never really talked boys!" She was practically whining, and she slapped her palms down gently on her bent knees. Then, she smiled again and waggled her eyebrows. "He's really cute."

I sighed and stepped further inside, closing the door behind me as I headed for the closet. "Yeah, I've noticed."

"So? Tell me about him!" she demanded. I heard my bedsprings creak as she shifted.

And this was why I didn't want to talk about it. What was I supposed to tell her? "Well, what do you want to know?"

"Everything!" she exclaimed.

"Mom, I hardly know everything about him," I told her. I bit my lip, my back to her while I pretended to take a while deciding which pajamas to wear. I decided to offer her some half-truths. "He's seventeen. His uncle, Dr. Cullen, adopted him after his parents died when he was younger. He plays piano, and he's really close with his family."

"Yeah, your dad was telling me about that arrangement. What's the deal with all the kids?" she asked.

"Um, Emmett and Alice are siblings, and they're Edward's cousins. Dr. Cullen's brother and sister and their spouses all died in a car accident when he was just finishing up medical school and he and his wife ended up taking them in and adopting them. Alice and Edward are the same age; Emmett's a year older. Rosalie and Jasper are twins – they're the same age as Emmett – and their parents were friends with Mrs. Cullen when they died a couple years ago. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen decided to foster them because they were friends with Emmett, Alice and Edward."

That was the story Edward told me they were going with this time around, anyway. I was sure that, if pressed for more details, all of them would have them at the ready.

"Dr. Cullen is the one who checked you over when you were involved in that accident, right?" When I nodded, her eyes went wide. "He does not look old enough to have five teenagers."

"Maybe he has a really good skincare routine," I suggested. When she raised her brow at me, I shrugged. "I think he and Mrs. Cullen are in their early thirties. It seems like they're doing a good job."

"Yeah, well… Edward does seem very nice," Renee said. "So, tell me how this all started!"

_Well, he kind of got obsessed with the idea of getting to know me when he realized I was the one person whose mind he couldn't read, and then he used his inhuman strength and speed to save my life from that van a few months ago, remember? And then I became obsessed with trying to figure out his secret. Turns out, he's a vampire and he likes me and I like him and now we're just kind of obsessed with each other!_

"We sit together in Biology," I said. "He's really smart."

"Was it love at first sight?" Renee sighed romantically.

"Not hardly." I bit my lip and snorted, remembered the murder in his eyes at lunch that first day. At her inquisitive look, I sighed and came up with a quick lie. "Um. He used to work alone until I came along, and he liked it that way. So he didn't really like me at first."

"But then he realized you were really smart and he started to like you?" she said, sounding almost giddy at the idea.

"Yeah, something like that," I said, and held up my pajamas. "Um, do you mind? I want to get dressed."

Instead of leaving like I wanted her to – it was stressful having to heavily edit all of my answers – she closed her eyes, squeezing them dramatically tight. I sighed and quickly slid my robe off my shoulders and slipped into my t-shirt and shorts.

"Was that night in Port Angeles a date?" she asked shrewdly when I'd given her the go-ahead to open her eyes.

"No, not really," I said as I leaned against my desk and crossed my arms awkwardly over my chest. "Um. I kind of invited him along, but he was out with his family that weekend so he didn't think he could make it, but they got back early and he got there right in time for the movie."

"And he let you wear his jacket and he drove you home even though I'm sure Mike Newton wanted to drive you home," Renee added.

"Mike Newton is dating Jessica." I said his name as if it was a dirty word; after his latest attempt to ask me out I was still a little sensitive to people suggesting there was anything there. "And he's just a friend."

"I know that's how you feel," Renee said with a little laugh. "But I'm sure he wasn't too pleased when Edward drove you home."

I scowled, and then shook my head. "No… he wasn't. Mike really doesn't like Edward."

"I can't imagine why," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, doesn't really matter why," I said with a small, uncomfortable shrug. I could just imagine what she would say if she found out about Tyler telling everyone he was taking me to prom.

"You like him, right?" Renee asked, but I figured it was purely for form. Wasn't it obvious how much I liked him? Hadn't she and Charlie seen us kissing when he brought me home? "Are you going out with him again?"

"Yeah, Mom. I like him a lot," I told her. "And yeah… actually, his sister convinced him to bring me over to their house tomorrow. He's going to introduce me to his family."

"Wow," she said, and she looked surprised. "That's a big deal."

I shrugged uncomfortably. "I mean… yeah, I guess. I think Alice is just really convincing."

"Alice is his sister?" When I nodded, she did as well. "It doesn't matter how convincing his sister is; he's the one who decided to go ahead and introduce you to his whole family. He must really like you, too."

I bit my lip and turned my back to her to hide my blush as I slowly unwound the towel from my hair. "Yeah, he does."

I grabbed my brush and my blow dryer and held them up. "Mom, I know you want to talk, but I'm really tired right now, and I just want to go to bed."

Truthfully, I was tired, but I knew I wouldn't be able to go sleep even if I tried. My day with Edward would be on repeat in my mind, and the anxiety I felt about going to his house tomorrow would likely keep me up most of the night anyway. But still, I wanted to be alone to really be able to think.

"Okay," Renee said with a small, hurt frown I wished I couldn't see.

"Love you," I said when she stood up.

"Love you, too," she said, and left the room.

The next day, I went downstairs about fifteen minutes before eleven to find that Renee had left to head down to her studio for a little while. I knew I had hurt her feelings by sending her away last night, but I didn't know how to fix it, not when I couldn't have the kind of heart to heart that she wanted.

"Edward Cullen, huh?" Charlie said as I quickly ate a sandwich; I didn't want to be hungry over at Edward's house even though it was likely that they already had food for me, if what he and Alice had packed for me the day before was any indication.

"Um, yeah," I said once I'd swallowed. I eyed him cautiously from my perch on the countertop near the sink. Charlie didn't do these kinds of conversations. Not like Renee did.

"Nice family," he said. He was sitting at the kitchen table, casual in a pair of worn jeans and a loose thermal, reading the newspaper.

"Yeah, well… I only really know him. I spoke to one of his sisters for like thirty seconds the other day at school," I told him. "Dr. Cullen cleared me of any head injuries, but I don't really think that counts."

"Should be alright," he said, and then repeated, "Nice family. Never had any trouble from them."

"Right. I'm sure it'll be fine," I said. He didn't truly understand; this wasn't like meeting a normal boy's family. I was meeting my vampire boyfriend's family, and they had every reason not to like me, not to trust me.

"Edward's nice, right?" he said after a moment, and I realized he had been staring blankly at the newspaper in front of him since I entered the kitchen.

"Yes, Dad." I smiled softly. "Edward's nice."

"Good," he said just as there was a knock at the door. He rolled his eyes, but there was a small smile on his lips when I jumped away from the counter. "Hey."

I stopped in the middle of the kitchen and wheeled to face him. "Yeah?"

"Have a good time," he said. "And call me if you need anything."

"Yeah, Dad," I said, and walked over to give him a kiss on the top of his head. "Thanks."

He looked surprised, but pleased, as I ran out of the kitchen and into the hall, grabbing my jacket as I swung the door open.

"Hi," I breathed, and just looked at him for a moment.

"Hello," he said, and I knew Charlie had no plans to come see us out when he stepped to me, wrapped his arms around me on the threshold, and breathed me in for a long moment before he kissed me. When he pulled back, he smiled at me. "Are you ready?"

"Um." I struggled to clear my mind. "Yeah."

"Let's go, then."

"Bye, Dad," I called over my shoulder as I pulled the door shut behind me and followed him to his car on the street.

"How did you sleep?" Edward asked as I buckled my seatbelt.

"Oh, you know. Okay, I guess," I lied. I'd barely slept at all, and I was sure he could see it in the shadows under my eyes. "I realized I don't even know where you live. My dad seems to have some idea, but… where are we going?"

"Our home is outside of Forks, north of the Calawah River," he told me. "Deep in the forest."

We drove for about fifteen minutes until all of the houses were behind us and the forest grew deeper and denser and greener on either side of the road. Then, he slowed the car to turn onto a barely visible unmarked dirt path. It was a long, winding, narrow path, just wide enough for one car to drive down. We were on it for another few minutes before the trees began to thin, and we drove up on what seemed to be a meadow, or a lawn given the house that sat there.

There were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protective shadow right up to the walls of the house that rose among them, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped around the first story.

It was beautiful, and graceful, and probably at least as old as Edward. It was painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned. The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration.

"Is it everything you expected?" Edward asked, smiling as he helped me, gaping, from the car.

"It's beautiful," I breathed, still struggling to take it all in. There was a garden, colorful and lovingly tended, that followed the curve of the porch.

"Esme has a passion for restoring old buildings," he told me as he led me up the steps and onto the sturdy wooden porch. "Also for interior design."

"Well, she really knows what she's doing," I said, making him laugh.

Edward's parents were standing in front of a winding staircase facing the door when we walked in. They looked as though they had been standing in wait for a very long time, but knowing what I knew, they could have flashed down there the second Edward's hand touched the door and I would never have been able to tell the difference.

Dr. Cullen was as handsome and as youthful as I remembered. His blond hair was as sleek as the day he'd confirmed I didn't have any head trauma, and his eyes were the same light honey as Edward's. It struck me how odd it was that the people of this town actually bought the Cullens' fabricated story; how was it that a man who didn't look even close to thirty could have adopted five teenagers? And how could that man, brilliant surgeon though was, young as he was supposed to be, afford a house like this with a wife and five grown children to support?

Esme Cullen was small – not quite as small as Alice, but roughly my height – and slender with softer features than any of her family. Her hair was the color of salted caramel just a couple of shades darker than her eyes, and tumbled over her shoulders in thick, graceful waves. She stood at her husband's side with a welcoming smile on her face, her hands clasped in front of her.

There was a slight flush in their nearly translucent skin and I wondered if the entire family had gone hunting so recently because of me. They both were smiling, but neither of them moved a muscle. I was certain they were wary of frightening me.

"Carlisle, Esme," Edward said, rubbing his thumb along the back of my hand soothingly. "This is Bella."

"Bella," Dr. Cullen said, inclining his head and moving forward slowly with his hand extended towards me, like he was approaching a flighty animal. "You're so welcome here."

"It's nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen," I said, stepping towards him and shaking his cold hand.

"Carlisle, please," he said with a pleased and almost surprised look on his face. Behind me, Edward laughed quietly in response to his thoughts.

"Carlisle," I repeated with an easy smile.

"Bella, I am so happy to finally know you," Esme said, giving me a handshake I would have described as nothing but warm, though her hands were as cold as Edward's and Carlisle's when she wrapped them both around my extended hand with a kind, reassuring smile. "You are such a blessing to us."

I wondered if Edward – or more likely Alice – had spoken of me often, or if she referred to the fact that he had been without a partner for the whole of his existence.

"Thank you." I felt my face flush at the high praise. "I'm very glad to meet you, too."

"Bella! I'm so happy you're here!" I turned to the staircase in time to see Alice race down it, quick as lightning, barely a streak to my eyes. She came to a sudden stop inches from me and pulled me into a firm hug. "I can't wait for us to have our girls' nights."

"Hi, Alice," I said, and returned the hug hesitantly. When a vegetarian vampire who insisted she would soon be your best friend hugged you, you hugged her back. "Girls' nights?"

"Yes, they're going to be so much fun." She was beaming at me when she pulled away. "Just the two of us hanging out when Edward goes to hunt!"

"Alice," Carlisle chastised quietly.

"Hush, it doesn't bother her!" Alice said without looking away from Edward and me.

"Because we're going to be best friends," I said helpfully. Carlisle and Esme looked dumbfounded while Alice grinned at me. "Edward mentioned it."

He was smirking when I glanced at him over my shoulder. I wondered whose thoughts were amusing to him, and why.

"Bella, this is Jasper," Edward said quietly.

I turned back to the staircase to find the tall blond at the top of the staircase. His eyes were the same well-fed shade of his family, but his strong jaw was tense and he was looking at me with uncertainty, like something about me just didn't make sense. Probably that I had willingly and knowingly walked into a house full of vampires.

Alice took several steps away from me and held her hand out to him. He walked slowly down the stairs and stood next to her, but made no move to touch me as the others had. He stood stiffly at Alice's side, and she threaded her arm through his.

"Hello, Bella," he said, and his voice was quite unlike any of the others'. It was still soft and melodic, but he spoke slowly in a long, drawn-out southern drawl. I remembered Edward saying he had been changed in Texas when he was a soldier in the Civil War. I wondered if he ever modulated his tone to fit in with the accents around him, of if he chose to keep this one small vestige of his human life with him forever. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Jasper," I said, smiling shyly. The last time I had seen him, I'd bared my teeth at him, Emmett, and Rosalie because I was mad at Edward. "It's nice to meet you, too."

I felt Edward tense next to me and turned to see him facing Carlisle with a scowl, but I got the impression that he was upset with something Carlisle had silently told him rather than the man himself.

"Emmett and Rosalie are in the living room," Carlisle said quietly, and it was a shock to realize that he spoke it aloud only for my benefit.

"It'll be okay, Bella," Alice assured me; I must have looked nervous at the prospect of meeting Edward's even more intimidating siblings. She smiled jokingly, like we had some sort of inside joke. "They don't bite."

"Alice," Esme hissed, but I laughed and everyone but Edward and Alice looked surprised again.

"Thanks, Alice," I said. It was charming, and somehow comforting, that she didn't feel the need to walk on eggshells around me like I was some weak, frightened little human. I could easily see now how we would be best friends before long.

Edward took my hand again and led me down the hallway, past the staircase, past a doorway that led to what looked like an elegant sitting room, and over to a wide, open doorway. There was a huge TV on one wall, almost as large as a movie theatre screen, and the largest, plushest, butteriest-looking leather couch I had ever seen.

"This will be quick," Edward breathed in my ear, looking annoyed already just as I noticed Rosalie standing impatiently next to a large glass door leading out into the woods. Emmett was grinning at me from beside her.

"Hello," I said uncertainly.

"Hey, little mountain lion." Emmett waved cheerfully, and snickered at his own joke. "Get it, because you growled at us the other day, and mountain lion is Edward's favorite."

"Right," I said, heart hammering in my chest as my face flooded with heat. "Um. Sorry about that, by the way. I was, um, mad… at Edward."

I glanced sideways at him to find him watching me impassively. I shouldn't have been surprised to find him unsurprised. There was no way that none of his siblings had thought about it after it happened. At least he didn't look upset with me.

"Don't worry, Bella. It was great!" Emmett laughed. He didn't seem to mind one bit that Rosalie didn't look happy with him. "You are going to be one fierce little newborn."

"Emmett," Edward hissed, a low warning.

"You think so?" I said with another small, uncertain smile.

"Yes, let's all just joke around like this isn't incredibly irresponsible," Rosalie hissed.

"Rosalie," Edward growled, less of a warning and more of a threat.

"I've met her. Am I done?" Rosalie demanded, looking past us now like Edward and I weren't there. Shocked at her unbridled hostility, I looked over my shoulder to see that Esme had followed us and was frowning at her daughter, a look of pure maternal disapproval on her angelic face.

Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and threw the door open so violently that I expected the glass to shatter, but it must have been made of something stronger because it remained intact. She stalked out and, in seconds, disappeared into the trees behind the house.

"Don't take it personally, Bella. She's working through some personal hang-ups," Emmett said with a small, concerned frown as he looked after Rosalie. He looked at me and smiled reassuringly. "I'd better go after her. I'll see you later."

"I'm sorry, Bella," Esme said once the door had shut softly behind Emmett; it was funny to see someone as large as him be so gentle after Rosalie had almost demolished it. "Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't convinced her to stay."

"It's okay," I said, though Rosalie's hatred of me left me almost as shaken as Edward's initial reaction to me had. "Emmett seems nice."

"Emmett finds you interesting," Edward told me and I barely noticed as Esme slipped away again. "Rosalie is… well, Emmett's right. Don't take it personally. She'll come around eventually, according to Alice."

I wondered if eventually was in the next year or after a few decades. It could have been either, considering Alice had seen me as one of them.

"So," I said, changing the subject before I could think too much about it. "Mountain lion."

Edward smiled ruefully. "We all have our personal preferences. Emmett's is bear."

"I can see that, actually." I nodded, and then frowned. "Didn't you say Emmett was being mauled to death by a bear when Rosalie found him?"

"Why do you think he likes them so much?" he responded. "Come on, I'll give you a tour."

He led me through the living room and into a kitchen that made my heart sing. I could just imagine cooking here, with the top of the line stainless steel appliances. I eyed Edward. "This is a nice kitchen for a family of vampires who don't eat."

"We like to keep up appearances," Edward said.

"Right." I nodded sarcastically. "For all of your human guests."

"You never know," he said, and walked to the refrigerator. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

I looked over his shoulder, astounded by the sheer amount of food and variety of drink I saw. The fridge itself was nearly twice the size of the one in my parents' small kitchen, and it was almost overflowing. "Why on earth do you guys have all of this?"

"Appearances," Edward said again. "Esme goes to the grocery store once a week so the humans don't get suspicious. We donate it all… she only went yesterday."

When he still held the door open, looking at me expectantly, I shook my head. "Oh. No, I'm fine. Thank you."

He shut the door and led me back out of the kitchen, gesturing to doors as we passed. "The laundry room. The garage; _you_ won't find that interesting. This is a bathroom. This is Carlisle and Esme's bedroom. This is the room where we monitor our finances… Alice and Jasper do most of the work there; they enjoy it more than the rest of us, though we each have our own private investments and accounts."

I stopped by the front door, pointing to an inconspicuous metal pad I hadn't noticed before. "What's this?"

"Oh, that's a safety precaution," he told me. "We can activate heavy metal shudders to cover all of the windows and doors. If any humans come along unannounced when the sun is high. Or when we move along."

He led me up the stairs to the second floor. "Jasper's study. Alice's bedroom. Rosalie and Emmett's room. Another bathroom."

And up to the third floor.

"This is the library. Carlisle mainly uses it as a study," Edward said as we passed a solid oak door. He paused, and lifted his hand to knock. "You'll enjoy this, actually."

"Come in." Carlisle's soft, soothing voice called; Edward was already pulling me inside before the first word was out. He was sitting at a large oak desk with a thick medical tome open in front of him. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt." I stood, feeling incredibly shy, at Edward's side as Carlisle rose to greet us.

"Not at all," he said, rounding the desk and leaning against the front of it, hands behind him bracing his body against the wood as he faced us openly. "What can I do for you?"

"Bella has an interest in our family history. I told her some," Edward said, "but I hoped you might feel like sharing _your_ history with her."

Carlisle looked at me and smiled indulgently. "I would be happy to."

Reacting to something in Carlisle's thoughts, I was sure, or just because he knew the story so well himself, Edward spun me around to face the door we had come through – this was the one wall not shelved out and full of books; instead there were paintings lining every inch of the wall – and walked me over to a sepia-toned oil painting in a small, square frame. A cityscape depicting slanted roofs and high-spired towers with a long, winding river in the foreground, a bridge across it holding what looked to be a row of cathedrals, this painting stood out only for it plainness among the large, grand pieces surrounding it.

"London in the 1650s," Edward told me.

"The London of my youth," Carlisle said from behind me. Edward squeezed my hand as if he expected me to be unsettled by either Carlisle's sudden proximity or his age, but I already knew how old he was and I felt like I was pretty desensitized to vampires suddenly appearing near me. "Where to begin?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm so sorry it's been over a week. I've been trying so hard to stay on top of things and update often and regularly. I could blame it on stress as I live in southeast Louisiana and you may have heard recently about the two hurricanes headed our way on the fifteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, but the truth is that I've been feeling a little uninspired. I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who takes the time to leave a comment; you guys really make me want to get to editing and keep up with this story, and I've come to look forward to seeing the names of the few of you who review every chapter without fail, so thank you. You make all the work I put into this story worth it :)
> 
> Now, onto the A/N.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I hope the conversation between Bella and Renee didn't come across too poorly. I think a lot of Bella's dismissiveness of her mother here stems from my intense dislike of her as a character - a parent who puts her child in the role of parent and takes on the role of the child themselves is just horrid in my opinion and it's tough for me to overlook that. Charlie, on the other hand, is more of an actual parent. He's awkward and quiet and he has his flaws beyond that and there are definitely moments that were off-putting - hello father who congratulates a teenage boy for sexually assaulting his daughter and proceeds to offer to press charges on her for defending herself, but I'm putting that one on SMeyer and her truly mind-boggling views on sex and what is and isn't okay in general.
> 
> The description of the Cullens' house is almost straight from the book, Chapter 15 The Cullens pg 166. Honestly, I just thought Stephenie's description of the outside of the house was beautiful and not worth changing and of course nothing like the Cullen house from the movies.
> 
> Next, we delve into Carlisle's story and we get some more backstory from Edward, and we get to know Alice a little better! Heads up that a lot of Carlisle's story next chapter is straight from the book as well, but I'm pretty sure that's going to be the last of the similarities to the book for the rest of the story lol.
> 
> _Ch 13 – Life and Death_
> 
> _"You know," I said. "My mom wanted me to talk about you last night and I found it difficult because all I know about you is… well, vampire stuff, really."_
> 
> _"You want to talk about me with your mother?" he questioned, and tilted his head curiously. Then, he nodded as if he suddenly understood. "What would you like to know?"_
> 
> _I bit my lip and wandered away from his book collection, over to the couch and the cluttered side table next to it._
> 
> _"What were you like as a boy?" I wondered, hesitating over a large stack of worn journals before I moved on to study the wall of records. "Before the change?"_


	14. Chapter 13. Life and Death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**Previously :** _
> 
> _Edward spun me around to face the door we had come through – this was the one wall not shelved out and full of books; instead there were paintings lining every inch of the wall – and walked me over to a sepia-toned oil painting in a small, square frame. A cityscape depicting slanted roofs and high-spired towers with a long, winding river in the foreground, a bridge across it holding what looked to be a row of cathedrals, this painting stood out only for it plainness among the large, grand pieces surrounding it._
> 
> _"London in the 1650s," Edward told me._
> 
> _"The London of my youth," Carlisle said from behind me. Edward squeezed my hand as if he expected me to be unsettled by either Carlisle's sudden proximity or his age, but I already knew how old he was and I felt like I was pretty desensitized to vampires suddenly appearing near me. "Where to begin?"_

Chapter 13. Life and Death.

Even lost in his own musings, Carlisle met my gaze with a kind smile.

"Perhaps the beginning?" Edward suggested with a laugh. I was surprised, and oddly touched when Carlisle shoved him lightly not at all unlike two brothers razzing each other, or two best friends.

"I'm not certain of the exact date of my birth, but I assume it was sometime in the 1640s, before Cromwell's rule." He looked at me, noted my lack of a reaction, and I saw Edward shake his head before Carlisle continued. "My mother died giving birth to me; it wasn't unusual. Health care wasn't what it is now. My father was an Anglican pastor, and an intolerant man. He believed very strongly in the existence of true evil. He often led hunts – think angry villagers with pitchforks and torches – for these evil spirits. He hunted witches… werewolves… vampires."

"Wait. I'm sorry," I said, interrupting. "You're not about to tell me there are actual vampire hunters out there too, are you?"

Carlisle laughed and shook his head. "No, Bella, and I wouldn't consider my father much of a vampire hunter, anyway. The people he hunted and accused were innocent. The real creatures are not so easy to catch."

An image of Edward stopping the van, lifting it before it could crush me, moving as fast as the speed of light to save me came to mind. "No, I guess not."

Carlisle seemed to understand what I was thinking; his gaze flitted to Edward briefly, and then back to me. "When my father grew older he began to pass on the job to me. I often let him down; I tried to be more cautious and fair. I was certainly slower to condemn innocent people, which made me a failure in his eyes."

It didn't sound like failure to me; it sounded like compassion and understanding. It sounded like Carlisle.

"One night, I got lucky – or unlucky, as it turned out – and happened across a coven of actual vampires. I gathered the masses, remember the villagers with the pitchforks and the torches, and led them to the entrance to the sewers where I had seen them. One came out. He ran. We gave chase. I was strong and young, only twenty-three, and faster than the others, so I ended up some distance ahead of them and he turned and began to feed on me."

Carlisle's eyes were clear topaz on mine, though I might have expected them to be distant with the memory. I tried to reconcile this man, an accomplished doctor, mature and successful and a _father figure_ to five teenagers, with someone only physiologically six years older than me. I couldn't. Because of the time in which he grew up, and the lack of proper hygiene and medical care, he could maybe pass for thirty, I thought, if you really went through some mental gymnastics to convince yourself. It still was not old enough to be believable as the patriarch of this family without a good backstory.

"He was too weak to finish, must have been ancient and nearly mad with thirst. The villagers were closing in on him; he left me there, half-dead, burning, to attack the men I had led after him. He killed two, took a third with him and disappeared.

"I knew what my father would do if he found out – I would be burned with all the rest of the infected bodies. It was instinct only, which made me act to save myself. I had just enough left in me to pull myself, clawing through the dirt and the filth into a cellar where I buried myself in rotting potatoes and stayed for three days, hidden and silent."

"It's a miracle he was able to stay silent," Edward cut in, speaking almost reverentially in my ear. I jumped, heart racing; I'd been so immersed in Carlisle's story that I'd nearly forgotten Edward was there. "The change is three days of pure agony."

"I suppose I'm very stubborn," Carlisle said lightheartedly.

"You're very something," Edward retorted and Carlisle smiled at him.

"When it was over," Carlisle said, delving back into the story with a suddenness and a stoicism that nearly startled me again, "I knew what I had become. I hated myself for it. I thought that I would have done better to allow myself to be discovered and burned. I hadn't the heart to burn myself, but I did try other methods.

"I jumped from great heights, but was never injured. I tried to drown myself in the ocean, but we are strongest when we are young, and nothing I tried worked. I tried to starve myself to death."

"Is that possible?" I asked faintly – the idea of Carlisle trying to kill himself, and the easy way he spoke of it, was somehow more jarring than any other bit of information I had gleaned so far.

"No, there are very few ways we can be killed," Edward said, and I looked at him again. "Starvation only petrifies us, turns us, essentially, to marble. But we can be reanimated with blood."

"Handy," I said, trying to keep my tone light, but I knew I didn't succeed when Edward smiled fondly at me, as if it was admirable how well I was taking everything.

"Yes, well, I grew very hungry. The thirst is the worst when we're young, and I feared that I would be overcome," Carlisle told me. "I wandered further from civilization; for months I hid myself in the woods. Starving, I came upon a herd of deer, and I glutted myself on them. And I became strong, and I discovered there was another way. I didn't have to be the vile monster I had once hunted.

"This realization cheered me and I began to make better use of my time, better than hiding alone in the woods. I was eager to learn and suddenly had all the time in the world for it. I swam to France and from there I traveled to the rest of Europe, observing and learning from so many different cultures. I attended the universities there, studying music, science, eventually medicine wherein I found my calling. It is my duty to save human lives."

"It must have been difficult for you to be around humans at first, you know, as a doctor… all that blood," I said. All I could think of was Edward's initial reaction to my scent, and I hadn't even been bleeding.

"It was very difficult," Carlisle admitted. "It took me two centuries of practice before I felt comfortable enough to help."

"He's being modest," Edward told me, rolling his eyes. "Those two centuries weren't just uncomfortable. They were agony to him; but now he is all but immune to human blood. He even finds peace there, in the hospital. There's no one his equal."

"Easy to find peace there; you lot aren't around to constantly interrupt me," Carlisle said to Edward, and they both laughed. Their easy banter made me smile.

"My apologies," Edward said with a mockingly submissive bow. "Do continue."

"I was studying in Italy when I discovered the others there. They were more civilized than the filth living in the London sewers."

Edward led me further down the wall to a rather sedate painting of four beautiful men on the highest balcony, looking down calmly on the mayhem below them. With a startled laugh, I realized that I recognized the golden-haired man. When I turned to look at him, Carlisle met my gaze with a soft smile.

"They lived opulently, and they were nighttime patrons of the arts and, for a time, they were my friends."

"What happened to them?" I asked.

"Nothing at all. They're still there," Carlisle said, gesturing to the painting, pointing out and naming each figure in turn: a young, dark-haired man with a wide, red smile, an older man with a bored, almost tortured expression, and a snowy-white petulant-looking young man who couldn't have been any older than me when he was turned. "Aro, Marcus, Caius. They are the Volturi, the ruling class of vampires, as it were. I stayed with them for a few decades, but they didn't respect my aversion to what they considered our 'natural food source.' They would try to persuade me to their way of life, and I would try to persuade them to mine, to no avail. When I realized there was no reasoning with them, I left for the New World in search of others who felt the way I did."

"You must have been very lonely," I said, and grief for him nearly swamped me. "Not having anyone truly like you, anyone who could understand why you do what you do."

Carlisle looked at me with startled eyes, and Edward laughed and agreed with whatever he was thinking.

"Yes, I was very lonely," he said slowly, forcing himself to look away from me and at Edward instead. "I traveled America for a while; when the Influenza pandemic hit, I was working in a hospital in Chicago and I had been turning over an idea in my mind for several years. I had almost decided to act, to create a companion, since I couldn't find one. I wasn't entirely certain how my transformation had occurred, so I was hesitant to act, and I was reluctant to steal someone's life the way mine had been stolen. But if they were already dying, I thought I could reconcile with that. That was when I found Edward; he was left alone in a ward for those who had no hope, who were dying. I had nursed his parents, you see, and I knew he was alone in the world, and his mother begged me to save him, to do for him what no one else could. I decided to try."

He fell silent then, and I watched a silent conversation pass between them for a long moment before Edward sighed and rested his hand briefly on Carlisle's shoulder.

"We've come full circle now," he said to me. "You already know of my transformation. Come, we've stolen enough of Carlisle's time."

"Thank you," I said to Carlisle as Edward led me out of the room by the hand.

"You are quite welcome, Bella," Carlisle said as the door closed behind us.

"How are you feeling?" Edward asked me as soon as we were alone in the hallway. I knew Carlisle could still hear us and wondered if they had trained themselves to be content with the illusion of privacy after so long having none.

"I'm not running away screaming," I promised him, but I shrugged. "It got heavy in some places. Is he okay? He seemed… sad… at the end there."

"You truly are a remarkable creature," he marveled, then shook his head and smiled at me. "Sad? No, he feels guilty for condemning me and Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett to this life."

"But he saved your lives," I said. "Right?"

"Yes, he did. At what cost, though?" Edward wondered aloud and the conversation felt too heavy for me to get into right now, after all that I had just learned, so I changed the subject.

"Your relationship with Carlisle is so fascinating to see," I said as he led me further down the hall. "There's a bit of father-son there, a lot of brotherly love, at moments it seems like you're best friends, and the way he clearly respects you and holds your opinions in such high regard, you're kind of like his second-in-command. It's wild."

Edward paused in front of the door and smiled at me. "You've managed to rather astutely describe what is an admittedly complicated relationship."

"Well, like you said, I _am_ more observant than you give me credit for," I reminded him loftily, but I smiled at him. "Is this your room?"

"Yes," he said. A bit of unease flashed in his eyes as he turned the handle and pushed open the door. "I believe I said that you are more observant than I _gave_ you credit for. I give you full credit now."

I stepped into his room and looked around greedily. It was more like an eclectic living room than a bedroom. Two walls were completely shelved out floor to ceiling; one contained more records than I had ever seen in my life, and the other was full of books. There was a record player, large and old-fashioned, on a small table set on one side of a plush black leather couch on the wall facing a wall of windows.

"This is incredible," I breathed. I toed off my shoes and let my bare feet sink into the soft, thick, decadent white rug; I sighed contentedly at the sensation, then frowned and turned to him. "But where's your bed?"

He gave me an odd look, like I was asking a stupid question, then realization flashed bright in his eyes. "Oh. I don't sleep."

"You don't sleep?" I repeated, taken aback. "Like… ever?"

"No, not at all," he said. "None of us can."

"Oh," I said, and gave myself a moment to let that sink in. "What do you do with all your time at night, then?"

"Well, it's a good time to hunt," he told me. "And it gives us ample time to indulge in our own personal passions."

He gestured to the walls of books and music and I nodded.

"You play piano a lot?" I asked; in a house this grand, there was no way there wasn't a fancy piano somewhere. He nodded and I mirrored the movement. "Figures."

He watched me as I began to walk around his room, touching small trinkets here and there. I turned to him to see that he looked uncertain again. "Are you uncomfortable with me looking around your room?"

"Not uncomfortable," he said, but he still stood leaning against the wall next to the door. "It's ridiculous, I know, but I think I'm nervous. I've never had a _girl_ in my room before, one who wasn't one of my sisters or my mother."

I laughed at him and brushed my hair over my shoulder as I ran a finger down the spine of _Wuthering Heights_. I had the same book in my own collection at home; it was one of my favorites. "I already said it's incredible."

"I know. I admitted I'm being ridiculous," he murmured, but his voice was closer now, and I looked over my shoulder to see that he had stepped further into the room.

"You know," I said. "My mom wanted me to talk about you last night and I found it difficult because all I know about you is… well, vampire stuff, really."

"You want to talk about me with your mother?" he questioned, and tilted his head curiously. Then, he nodded as if he suddenly understood. "What would you like to know?"

I bit my lip and wandered away from his book collection, over to the couch and the cluttered side table next to it.

"What were you like as a boy?" I wondered, hesitating over a large stack of worn journals before I moved on to study the wall of records. "Before the change?"

"You can read them, if you like. They'll probably put you to sleep, but you can read them," he said of the journals. When I only smiled at him and sat down on the couch and watched him still standing in the middle of the room, he came to sit next to me. "I'm not sure how to… do you have any specific questions?"

I shrugged as he slid his hand into mine, and I leaned against his side. "What were some of your hobbies other than piano? Who was your best friend? What was your favorite subject in school? What did you want to do when you grew up? I know you said your memories have faded, but what _do_ you remember?"

"I'm afraid you wouldn't have found me very interesting as a human," he told me. "As far as I can remember, I didn't have many friends. My mother was, for all intents and purposes, my best friend. My father was a prominent lawyer so he wasn't home very often, and he was distant whenever he was around, so my mother basically raised me on her own. I was very attached to her."

He seemed almost embarrassed to admit it, but I couldn't very well judge him for it. Before I met Madison, Renee was my best friend and even after, until she made the call to move back here, she was a close second. It was different now, and awkward because I couldn't speak freely about what was really going on in my life, but I still loved her more than just about anyone.

"What was her name?" I asked.

"Elizabeth," he told me. "Elizabeth Masen. She was beautiful, and intelligent, and talented, and patient, and kind. She played piano and she would teach young children for free. We would go for walks in the park near our home and sometimes I would carry an easel and supplies for her to set up and paint a scene there. I never met anyone who didn't love her. Compared to my father, who was often cold and withdrawn, I wanted to be just like her."

"What about your father? What was he like, and what was his name?" I asked.

"Edward," he said simply. "Edward Anthony Masen."

"Does that mean that you are Edward Anthony Masen, Jr.?" I prompted as I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Yes," he said. "My father was a good man, and he loved me and my mother, but that didn't make him a good husband or a good father. At least, by today's standards – _your_ standards, I'm sure – he wouldn't have been. He provided for us; we lived in a large house with servants and we had everything we needed and more. But he was … I believe the term _married to his work_ might have applied to him. There were nights he wouldn't come home at all because he would be so late in the office, and when he would come home, he was quiet and didn't speak to my mother about his day or ask how hers was. He fell ill first, and died quickly. My mother grew ill shortly after he died, and I was hospitalized just days after her."

"Do you miss them?" I asked.

"There would be no point to it," he said rather blandly.

I craned my neck to look up into his stoic face, and saw some hint of emotion in his eyes. Grief, I realized. "People do pointless things all the time. It's very human."

"I'm not human anymore, Bella," he said, as if I needed reminding.

"No." I shook my head. "You're something more."

"Bella…"

"That was only one of my questions," I said quickly, before he could ruin the moment with his pessimism.

He sighed, but I saw the corner of his mouth quirk up just slightly. "I enjoyed history lessons. I was particularly interested in reading about the American Revolution. I wanted desperately to enlist in the army and serve my country in the first world war, but I was too young, and by the time I was old enough, I was dying and it was already ending. I loved to play baseball – though I didn't have many friends, I often joined the neighborhood boys in street games. I was good, so they didn't mind that I was quiet."

I smiled softly and rested my chin on his shoulder so that I could still watch him. I could picture it; a smart, quiet, athletic boy who wanted only to prove himself, to do everything in his power to protect his country, who loved his mother more than anything in the world and likely held her on a pedestal. He didn't seem so different today. Perhaps he wasn't very patriotic anymore, but who could blame him? But he was still a very loyal and loving person; his family was proof enough of that. And he was definitely still quiet; he preferred to learn about me than talk about himself, though I hadn't thought up a question he wouldn't answer if I put it to him, not since I learned the truth.

"I think you're wrong," I said quietly. When he turned his head to look at me, I kissed him lightly. "I think I would have really liked that boy."

There was a light tap at the door and it swung open less than a second later. Alice pranced into the room with a bright smile and folded herself on the soft rug at our feet and peered up at us. Behind her, Jasper leaned against the doorframe, looking wary and vaguely shocked when he studied our position. It was as if he was testing the room.

"He's reading the emotion in the room," Edward told me and I realized I had been eyeing Jasper as closely as he was studying us.

"My apologies," Jasper said quickly, tilting his head at me, but he didn't step any further into the room. "It's just a surprise how… comfortable you are here."

"Oh." I blinked. "You can feel what I feel?"

"I can do more than that," he said, and his gaze on me intensified slightly.

Suddenly, I felt absolutely giddy. I covered my mouth when I began giggling uncontrollably. It was over as quickly as it started, and I was just happy and content again, and a bit unsettled. "Well, hell. Don't do that to me again, please."

He bowed his head in respect and I laughed quietly. Edward was watching me closely, wishing he could read my reaction, I knew.

"Oh, she's fine, Edward," Alice said lightly. "You worry too much."

"I'm fine," I echoed reassuringly and kissed his cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper stiffen, but he was leaning casually as before when I turned to look at him again. "No harm, no foul."

"Alice." Edward only spoke her name, but the warning was clear in his tone.

His sister ignored him completely and beamed up at me. "I made something for you."

"You… made… for me?" I stammered, staring at her. I expected her to just hand over whatever it was, but she unfolded herself and rose gracefully, took my hand in hers, and tugged me to my feet with what seemed like no effort at all.

"Alice!" Edward warned more sharply.

"Oh, hush, Edward!" Alice chirped cheerfully. "We're best friends!"

"Not yet, you're not," he said impatiently, and got to his feet.

"And how do you expect it to happen if you refuse to share her?" she said, and frowned and moved between us when he stepped forward.

"It's okay, Edward," I said with a small, shy smile for Alice when she turned to grin at me. "I don't mind."

"Don't worry, you'll love it!" she assured me, and pulled me past Jasper who stood still as a statue as I walked past. "I'll bring her back in a little while."

The last part she said very quietly and after we had already reached the end of the hall, but I knew she spoke to Edward, and that he heard her as clearly as if he was walking right alongside us.

She led me down the stairs to the second floor and into a very large, purely female room. I stopped and she dropped my hand to allow me to study the space. The walls were painted a purple so soft and light it all but shimmered in the pale grey light slanting in from the floor-to-ceiling windows almost like I knew her skin would in the sun. There was a desk flooded with fashion magazines and sketchpads against the wall nearest me, and two soft, feminine white chairs. Fashion portraits and beautiful sketches lined the walls. An enormous, sturdy-looking white wrought iron bed made up with a shimmering champagne colored bedspread and more pillows than I had ever seen in my life took up the bulk of the space.

"A bed?" I said aloud. "Edward said you don't sleep, so why would you need… Oh. Right. Obviously."

When Alice smiled at me, it only made me blush deeper. She laughed, a quiet tinkling charming sound, and took my hand again to lead me across the room to a door, which she pushed open to reveal the largest closet I had ever seen in my life. It was easily the size of my bedroom and the communal bathroom back home put together and was laid out like a department store with a dress section, a casual section separated into pants, blouses, and t-shirts, a coat section, a shoe section, a handbag section, a fragrance section… there was even a sitting area in the center of the room with a tri-fold mirror and another soft white chair with a mirrored table next to it.

"Wow," I said, unable to think of anything more fitting.

Alice flitted away from me, over to a desk in the corner that held a sewing machine and other tools I couldn't identify. She lifted a parcel wrapped in plain brown paper and twine and, appearing quite suddenly in front of me, handed it to me.

"Oh, thanks." I took it from her and fingered the twine bow uncomfortably.

"You can thank me once you look at it, Bella," she said softly.

"You already told me I'll love it," I pointed out.

She looked worried for half a second that she had freaked me out after all before she saw my smile and laughed. "Open it, please."

I did as she asked; once I had the bow untied, the paper fell open to reveal a swath of soft forest-green wool. I lifted it and shook it out to reveal a beautiful, long, cozy-looking sweater. Alice was watching me with trepidation, as though she hadn't already seen my reaction. I held the sweater to my chest and looked at her.

"You're right. I _do_ love it," I told her.

She grinned at me again and tossed her arms around my neck to pull me into a tight hug. "I'm so glad! I knew green was your favorite color, and that you prefer comfort above all else, and cashmere is so soft!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that green wasn't my favorite color; it was slightly embarrassing, but recently my favorite color had shifted to ochre.

"Cashmere?" I repeated. I didn't know much about fashion, but one of the few things I did know was that cashmere was very expensive.

"Oh, don't," she said quickly with a little laugh. "Trust me, you're going to be tempted to argue about cost time and time again, but it's part of being in this family. You're going to have to accept it. Besides, I _made_ this for you. You can't refuse it; it would be rude."

"Alice," I said, sighing in defeat. It really wasn't fair trying to argue with a clairvoyant vampire; she already knew my weaknesses and this was our first real interaction. "We really are best friends, aren't we?"

She squealed and hugged me again. "You don't even know the half of it yet! Oh, put it on! I want to see how it looks on you."

"But don't you already know?" I asked even as I started to pull it on over my long- sleeved henley anyway.

"Yes." She rolled her eyes playfully and took several steps back so she could study me closely. "But I wanted to see it in person, and I was right. It does look amazing on you."

I stepped closer to the mirror to study myself. I had to agree with her; the dark green stood out against my pale skin, and it looked nice with the brown of my hair and eyes. It was very pretty. I thought I looked rather earthy, personally, and I loved it.

"Thank you, Alice," I said, meeting her gaze in the mirror. She waved a hand dismissively in response.

"I'm so happy Edward decided not to kill you," she said seriously.

I blinked, and laughed quietly. "Um. Yeah, me too."

Suddenly, a vibrant, luxuriant, radiant tune started playing, piano notes flowing up through the floorboards under our feet. Alice smiled tenderly.

"He's playing Esme's favorite song," she said sweetly.

"Edward?" I clarified.

"Yes." She took my hand and led me out of the closet, through her room, back out into the hall. "He wrote this one, inspired by Carlisle and Esme's love."

"He wrote it?" I repeated dumbly. I knew he played, obviously, and it made sense that he could compose as well considering he'd been playing for over a century. The realization made me feel even more inferior than I already did sometimes. Why would someone so wonderful, so talented, be interested in me? I could barely even cross a flat surface without tripping.

"Just wait," she said, her voice suddenly void of emotion. I looked at her face again, found it blank as well, and felt a shock run through me. "The next one is even more special."

Her eyes cleared then, and she turned to beam at me again. "I'll see you later, Bella, okay?"

She hugged me and then she was gone, leaving me alone halfway down the staircase. I frowned, looked back up the staircase where she had disappeared, and then down to see Esme standing in the doorway across the hall at the foot of the stairs, her back to me as she leaned against the frame. Slowly, as quietly as I could, I walked toward her. I stopped next to her and she looked over at me, a little flicker of surprise coming and going quickly from her face, and smiled at me. There was no way I had managed to sneak up and surprise her with her superior hearing; I realized she wasn't expecting me to willingly stand so close to her.

"Isn't it so lovely?" she whispered to me.

I wasn't sure if she meant the song or the sight before us. I nodded anyway; both were absolutely stunning. There, on a raised platform, stood a gorgeous, gleaming black grand piano. Edward sat behind it, eyes closed, fingers flying, looking more at peace than I'd ever seen him, even more at peace than he was in the meadow yesterday with his face tilted up to the sun and my fingers on his glittering skin.

"You brought this back to him," she told me, and I knew her hushed tone was so as not to overpower the music as Edward could hear our conversation perfectly. "He didn't play for years, and then you came along and he found his passion again. Thank you so much."

She kissed my cheek, her lips cold and soft and smooth on my skin, and then she disappeared just as suddenly as Alice had, and with as little explanation. He opened his eyes then and looked at me and I walked to him on surprisingly steady legs to sit on the narrow bench next to him.

"You look beautiful," he said, making me blush. He brushed his lips gently over my heated cheek and smiled very softly at me even as his eyes visibly darkened in reaction to my blood.

"So do you," I replied honestly, and he laughed and shook his head at me. "This song is amazing."

"It's Esme's favorite," he said.

"Alice told me."

"Hmm." He nodded contemplatively and then his fingers shifted on the keys, the melody shifting to something softer, sweeter, somehow even more tender. "You inspired this one."

My lips parted and I stared at him in utter shock; to my complete embarrassment, my eyes welled hot with tears. He smiled gently, seemingly satisfied by my reaction, and closed his eyes again.

"Do you understand?" he murmured. "How I feel? How wondrous this whole experience is for me? How precious you are to me?"

I nodded. I felt each of those things in the notes his fingers coaxed out of his piano, and I felt their twins echoed in my heart. I rested my head on his shoulder, unsurprised to find that his movements, the way his fingers glided across the keys, were so smooth they didn't even jostle me.

"I used to think I could leave you," he said softly, his lips moving against the side of my head. "I thought I could be strong enough to leave before things got too serious, to keep you safe. Another thing I was wrong about."

Just the thought of that, of him leaving me, made my heart clench uncomfortably in my chest. I shook my head firmly. "No… you can't… you can't do that. I couldn't… I wouldn't… it would be… so wrong. You just can't."

"I'm not, Bella." I only realized he had stopped playing when his hands cupped my face gently, and his lips covered mine. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that. I only meant to assure you of just how important this is to me."

"Okay," I said, and took a deep, steadying breath. I would have been embarrassed by my near panic attack had he not been looking at me with such sad, understanding eyes. We had only been dating for two weeks, for God's sake. We had been on _one_ actual date. Just two days ago we'd gotten into a fight about how he didn't want me to become a vampire and I'd thought it was stupid because there was no way I could even consider it this early on. And yet, here I was freaking out at the mere idea of him hypothetically leaving me. The sudden intensity of our relationship was insane; I could admit that. It didn't change the fact that what we felt was very real.

"Good. Don't. Because I feel the same way. So just don't think like that anymore, okay?"

"Okay," he said, and pressed his lips to my forehead now. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head and laid it on his shoulder again. "I interrupted my song."

"I'll start it again for you," he said quietly, and did.

"What color were your eyes?" I asked as he played. He clearly didn't struggle to play and speak at the same time, and I wanted desperately to lighten the intense mood again.

"Carlisle remembers them as green," he told me, and I could imagine him then, staring at me with soft, sweet, gentle green eyes, the contrast beautiful with his skin and bronze hair.

I smiled and looked down at my sweater sleeve. Alice was right again; green was my new favorite color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Some of the dialogue in this chapter, specifically during Carlisle's story, is from chapters 15 and 16, The Cullens and Carlisle in the Twilight novel. Pgs 172-177. Of course, Carlisle says most of it here while in the book Edward tells the story.
> 
> Can we just talk about how cute Alice is? And how sweet Esme is? Also, how crazy SMeyer was for making Carlisle a whopping 23 years old?! Here's your wise all-knowing ancient vampire patriarch who looks barely older than our teenage main characters! I toyed with the idea of aging him up again, but I thought… let Carlisle be a hot 23 year-old forever. Why not?
> 
> Next up:
> 
> _Ch 14. Tension in the Air_
> 
> _He smiled that sweet, easy-going smile at me, and shrugged. "No worries. It's been crazy over here for me, too."_
> 
> _Something flashed in his eyes, some hot, angry, resentful thing that made no sense to me. I saw Billy watching us when we walked in the door._
> 
> _"What have you been up to?" I asked, trying to ignore the way Billy was looking at us, like he was monitoring our conversation even as Charlie was talking to him about the game he'd caught on TV last night._


	15. Chapter 14. Tension in the Air.

Dating Edward was fun. I still wasn’t exactly comfortable talking about him to Renee, which obviously upset her, but I was pretty sure she was able to write it off as me being a private teenager with my first boyfriend; it was unlikely she thought I was keeping big, important secrets about him from her, or even that Edward had big, important secrets. It was also still weird for me that people would stare at us when we passed, but I found that it happened less and less frequently as the people of Forks grew accustomed to us being together.

About a week after I met his family, Edward seemed to have a moment of clarity – I personally suspected he was tired of hearing the grumbling thoughts of my human friends – and started sitting with all of my friends at lunch instead of keeping me all to himself, much to Mike and Eric’s dismay. While I wished we could continue having our private lunches where we could talk more openly, my girl friends enthusiastically welcomed Edward to our table. He complained to me that it was somehow even worse to hear their thoughts when he was expected to actively hold a conversation with them. On the other hand, I was pretty sure my guy friends would have preferred if Edward just disappeared entirely. He never retaliated when Mike tried to throw thinly veiled verbal barbs his way, but he did at least make an effort to join in on some of the more mundane conversations.

What was even more unsettling to the humans at Forks High was when Alice decided to follow Edward over to my human friends’ table as well. The first time she did so, she was the first person sitting at the table; poor Jessica nearly had a heart attack when she found Alice in her usual seat, but she recovered quickly when Alice offered her a chocolate chip cookie from her lunch tray.

Alice didn’t sit with us every day like Edward did, but would instead rotate her time between our table and the Cullens’ table. I figured if Jasper felt comfortable enough to sit with a bunch of humans, she would have sat with us every day, but she wasn’t willing to leave Jasper alone with Emmett and Rosalie all the time. If not for my –justified, in my opinion – discomfort around Rosalie, I probably would have done the same. I liked Jasper and Emmett well enough; I would have liked to be able to spend more time with them. Emmett in particular seemed like he would be pretty fun to talk to, as he clearly wasn’t afraid to say things that Edward didn’t want him to say.

The only place I didn’t get the unsettling looks was La Push, but that was only because I was too much a coward to tell Jacob about Edward. I didn’t think he would be too upset about it, but I was concerned that he might mention it to Billy, who _would_ be concerned.

I thought it was probably mostly Renee’s doing that Charlie kept going down to visit Billy; they probably wouldn’t have been fighting for so long before Renee and I moved back if Charlie was so willing to put forth the effort on his own. As it was, I was beginning to understand how Charlie had ended up avoiding making up with Billy for so long. I found myself making excuses not to join my parents in La Push.

It was too stressful for me to hide such an important part of my life from someone who was quickly becoming a really close friend. Edward, for his part, was enjoying the fact that I was avoiding La Push. He would never actually admit it to me, but it made him happy when I made excuse after excuse to my parents only to end up spending the day with him while they made the drive out to La Push.

When my phone rang early one Saturday morning, I fully expected it to be Madison; it seemed she was just about the only person – in Phoenix or Forks – who called me anymore. Edward, on the rare occasion that we weren’t together when he wanted to talk to me, had a tendency to just show up at my window for a quick chat and sometimes a not-so-quick kiss. So I was surprised to hear his voice when I answered.

“Why did Alice just see us not spending the day together?” Edward asked. We didn’t have any set plans, but it was sort of an unspoken agreement that we spent our weekends together.

I noted the odd choice of words, and decided to call him out on it. Typically, Edward was very specific with his words. “What did she see me doing?”

“She didn’t see you doing anything, just that we wouldn’t see each other today,” he told me, and the clear disappointment in his voice made me feel both sorry and pleased at the same time.

“My parents guilt tripped me into agreeing to go to La Push with them today,” I said. It was the first time my excuses had failed me, and I was both disappointed and excited. On the one hand, I didn’t really know what I would say to Jake when I couldn’t talk to him about what was quickly becoming the most important thing in my life. On the other, I genuinely missed my friend. “I was just about to call you.”

“La Push,” he sighed. “Of course.”

I knew he wouldn’t be happy that I was going to the one place he wouldn’t be able to follow, but what choice did I have? Jake was my friend and he lived there, and Charlie and Renee would give me crap for days if I only ever saw him when he and Billy managed to make the trip out to us.

“Hey, the only reason you would want me to stay away is because they know the truth, right? But so do I. So it’s not really an issue,” I pointed out.

He was silent for a moment before he sighed again. “I just don’t like not being able to be there if you need me.”

“I’ll be safe,” I assured him. “I’ll be with my dad, you know, the Chief of Police, at our good friends’ house.”

“I know,” he said, and I wondered what he was really thinking, what he was really worried about. “It’s probably a good thing, anyway. Alice, Jasper, and Esme are leaving to go hunting in a few minutes. If I go with them, I won’t need to leave you later in the week.”

“Always a silver lining,” I said, unable to contain my smile. “I’m going to miss you.”

“You know I’ll miss you, too,” he told me in a low, serious voice.

“Yeah, well at least try to have fun. Go catch a mountain lion or something.”

He laughed; I hadn’t let that small nugget of information go and didn’t ever plan to. “Bella, listen… if you need anything, will you do me a favor? Will you call Emmett? He and Rosalie are going to stick around today.”

“I won’t need…”

He cut me off, concern seeping through the line. “Please, Bella.”

“Okay,” I agreed. He worried too much, but if I could ease his worries some with this one little promise, then I would. “I will call Emmett if I need anything.”

“Thank you,” he said. “Would it be okay if I came to see you this evening? After we get back and cleaned up?”

“Of course,” I said eagerly. I was going to miss him as much as he would apparently miss me. “When do you think you’ll be back?”

“It depends on how quickly we find what we need.” He usually danced around the words when he was talking about hunting. I wondered if it was out of habit so that they never slipped up around humans and gave themselves away, or if he thought I would be uncomfortable with the reality of what they were doing. “We could be back any time between early afternoon and late evening.”

“Okay, well, I’ll see you later, then.” I turned to the door when I heard a light tapping and saw Charlie knocking his knuckles on the doorframe. “Hey, I have to go. My parents are ready to leave.”

“Okay,” Edward said. “I’ll miss you. Be safe.”

I rolled my eyes. He was the one going hunting; I was just going to visit some family friends with my parents. “You too.”

Charlie was still standing there watching me when I hung up my phone and grabbed my coat. “Edward?”

I nodded with a distracted, affirmative _hmm_ as I scanned my room for my bag. I saw it sitting on the floor next to my desk and walked over to grab it.

“He could, uh, come with us sometime,” Charlie said awkwardly, shifting his weight to his back foot. “It doesn’t always have to be your boyfriend or your friends. It can be both sometimes.”

I turned and stared at him, eyes wide with surprise, mouth probably gaping open. I cleared my throat and fidgeted with my coat in my arms. “I get that. And we do hang out with our friends from school sometimes, you know,” I said, waiting until he nodded his acknowledgement. “And I appreciate the offer, but… well, Edward doesn’t really go to La Push.”

“Well, why…” he trailed off, and I saw the moment the realization hit him. He frowned and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans when he remembered the reason for his fight with Billy. “Oh. Yeah. Right.”

“Thanks, though. Really,” I said, and paused beside him at the door to squeeze his forearm in what I knew he would recognize as a fond, appreciative gesture. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” he said, and surprised me when he slung his arm over my shoulder, pulled me close to his side, and pressed his lips to my temple. Charlie wasn’t usually one for overt affection, hence the arm squeeze. I wondered if he was making a concentrated effort to be more open with his feelings, if that was one of the terms he and Renee had agreed upon when they’d decided to give it a second go. “I love you, Bells.”

“I love you too, Dad,” I said softly. It was awkward walking down the stairs because he didn’t relinquish his hold on me and I had inherited my abysmal balance from him. Renee laughed at us from her position near the front door and shook her head fondly when we stumbled on the last step and Charlie had to release me so we could each catch ourselves on the wall.

I stopped him, catching a fistful of his thick flannel as he turned to follow her out to the car, chuckling to himself at our lack of grace. When he looked at me again, I bit my lip.

“Dad? Um… do Jake and Billy know?” I asked. He shook his head helplessly at me, and I realized I hadn’t given him enough context. It was odd; even though Edward couldn’t read my mind like he could everyone else’s, he was still usually able to guess what I meant when I failed to ask a complete question, or give a whole answer. “About Edward.”

“Oh.” He frowned thoughtfully and I imagined he was trying to think back, recall if he or Renee had ever mentioned anything about him. “No, I don’t think your mom ever brought it up.”

I sighed, relieved. “Okay.”

He studied my face for a moment. “Probably best if they don’t find out today?”

“Um. Probably.” I shrugged. “I just don’t want to deal with… any weirdness.”

“Well, you know I’m not going to bring it up,” he pointed out, and I did. Charlie was not one to share needless information. “I’ll do my best to keep tabs on your mom, but she hasn’t said anything yet.”

I nodded, and forced a smile to hide my nerves. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Course,” he said, and gestured for me to lead the way outside. “Come on now, before your mom thinks we both tripped again and broke our necks.”

When we pulled up to Billy and Jake’s place on the Reservation, Jacob was just wheeling Billy up to the house from the garage. They stopped to wait for us at the top of the ramp that led to their front door.

“Hey, Bella!” Jacob said when I stepped out of the car.

He was beaming at me, and it made me feel a little bad. He didn’t know yet that I had a boyfriend and I was worried that he would be upset to learn that I did. I wasn’t stupid; I realized that Jacob had a small crush on me, just as I knew that I was at least partially responsible for that. The crush itself didn’t bother me too much; it was really just the guilt that ate at me.

If I hadn’t flirted with him those first few times I met him, used him in such a deplorable manner to get information out of him, he may not have developed his little crush on me and I wouldn’t have been nearly as reluctant to tell him about my boyfriend. If I could have, I would have gone back and handled it differently. I wouldn’t have flirted with him, wouldn’t have made him tell me his tribe’s most sacred tales. If Edward and his family weren’t as kind and understanding and forgiving as they were, I knew I could have gotten Jacob and all of the Quileutes in a lot of trouble. I would never be able to atone for that mistake, but I hoped being his friend would at least help a little.

“Hey, Jake,” I said.

“Been a while since I’ve seen you,” he said, and fell back when Charlie took the handles of Billy’s chair and steered him inside.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said after Renee followed Charlie and Billy into the house. “I guess I’ve been a little busy.”

He smiled that sweet, easy-going smile at me, and shrugged. “No worries. It’s been crazy over here for me, too.”

Something flashed in his eyes, some hot, angry, resentful thing that made no sense to me. I caught Billy’s eyes on us when we walked in the door.

“What have you been up to?” I asked, trying to ignore the way Billy was looking at us, like he was monitoring our conversation even as Charlie was talking to him about the game he’d caught on TV last night.

Jake shrugged and waved a hand dismissively. “Just school and hanging out with the guys. The Rabbit’s coming along. Dad even promised to buy me the last part I need for it.”

“Awesome,” I said. The Rabbit was an old car Jake was trying to rebuild. He’d found the body in a junkyard near Port Angeles and hauled it back to the Reservation almost a year ago, and had been scavenging for missing parts ever since. It was his greatest obsession, as far as I could tell. Still, none of that sounded too much like anything crazy going on in his life.

“Yeah, what about you? What’s been keeping you so busy?” he asked.

“Oh, a lot of the same, I guess. School. Friends.” I shrugged and shook my head with a small laugh. “Although I’m not trying to bring a dead car to life, so I guess you’ve got that on me.”

Over Jake’s shoulder, I caught the odd look on Renee’s face and knew – just _knew_ – she was going to bring up Edward. Before I could do more than frown at her, the door opened again behind me and Sue and Harry Clearwater walked in, thankfully distracting her.

“I brought my famous fish fry!” Harry announced in his deep booming voice as he hefted a large paper bag onto the kitchen table.

“It’s ten o’clock in the morning, Harry,” Sue said.

“Which means we better get started, right?” Charlie joked as he moved forward to inspect the bag.

“Got a whole chest full of fish out back,” Billy said, reaching up to pat Jake on the back. “The boys went out and caught them this morning.”

“Busy morning,” I said to Jake as we both moved aside when Harry and Charlie started to wheel Billy out to the back to check out the fish haul.

“Yeah, well.” His smile was small and bashful when he shrugged. “Just another thing I’ve got on you, I guess.”

“Hey!” I protested. “I could catch fish.”

Renee laughed at me, and hurriedly followed Sue over to the couch when I glared at her.

“If I wanted to,” I added.

“Sure, sure,” Jake said, but his lips twitched and made me roll my eyes. “Want something to drink?”

“Sure,” I said. In the living room, I could hear Sue telling Renee about a boy named Sam Uley who had broken her daughter Leah’s heart. Leah was around my age, but while Jake and I knew each other vaguely from my summers here as a kid, Leah and I never really got to know each other. I still felt for her when Sue said that Sam had dumped her for Leah’s cousin Emily.

I thought I could remember Sam, though. He was a year or two older than me, but his dad was friends with Billy so he would be around sometimes when Charlie and Billy got together.

Jake handed me a cold can of Coke, but he was looking at Sue with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Well, I guess we’re lucky Edward’s so polite, aren’t we, Bella?” Renee said. I whipped my head around, wide-eyed, to stare in horror as she spoke to Sue on the couch. “I don’t think he would ever do anything like that.”

“Edward?” Sue repeated, looking starved for a good story. With Leah so heartbroken, it was unlikely she got to participate in any happy girl talk.

Behind me, I heard the screen to the back door open and the wheels of Billy’s chair on the hardwood floor as Charlie and Harry brought him back in.

“Mom,” I said, and tried to subtly shake my head, to warn her not to speak.

Either Renee didn’t receive the message or she willfully ignored it. “Yes, Bella’s boyfriend. Edward Cullen.”

The absolute silence that followed was such that I could actually hear the sound of the children running barefoot in the dirt next door. I expected the stricken look on Billy’s face, and wasn’t surprised to see it mirrored on Sue and Harry’s faces. What did surprise me was the way Jacob froze so completely that he almost rivaled Edward’s occasional shocked posture.

Charlie scowled at Renee; clearly he understood the importance of leaving out any mention of my boyfriend in this house. Renee looked around the room, clearly confused by the sudden and very stark change in atmosphere. Thankfully, Sue recovered quickly and started telling Renee a funny story about her son, Seth, who was a few years younger than Jacob and was a really sweet, lovable kid as far as I could remember. Harry called Charlie’s attention back to the topic of the fish fry we had come out here for, and it was just Jake, Billy, and me left holding onto the tension in the room.

“Hey, wanna show me the car?” I said, weakly prodding Jake in the side with my elbow when he hadn’t moved a muscle in almost a full minute. I figured if he had anything to say about me dating Edward, it was best if he said it where my parents couldn’t overhear.

“Sure,” he said gruffly.

“Jake,” Billy said very quietly, but Jacob ignored him.

The way Renee’s gaze followed us out the door made me think that she suspected the tension in the air was caused by his obvious crush on me rather than by the old legends the Quileutes held about the Cullens.

I had to walk quickly, stumbling over the uneven path to keep up with him as he stormed over to the garage. He yanked the door open and stalked all the way to the back of the garage to his workbench.

“Hey, the car’s coming along nicely,” I lied as I picked my way very carefully through the mess to him. What looked like every part of the inside of the car was strewn around the garage. It seemed very unlikely that anyone would ever be able to get the Rabbit up and running. But, then, Jacob was a good mechanic.

“Cullen, huh?” he spat instead of humoring my attempt at friendly, neutral conversation. 

I knew he would be unhappy but the venom in his tone took me by surprise. “Yeah. What about him?”

He looked at me, his eyes narrowed and nose wrinkled in disgust. “You _know_ what about him. I _told_ you about him.”

I stared at him, wondering what had changed for him to suddenly be this angry at the mention of the Cullens when just a few months ago, we’d sat joking on the beach about them. His entire body was quivering, like he was fighting with everything in him not to do something horribly violent. When he slammed his fist on his workbench, the thick wood shook and I could have sworn I heard it crack. 

“What the heck is wrong with you? You told me _a story_ , Jacob. One that you don’t even believe!” I said, my voice rising in pitch and volume. “We laughed about it! We made jokes about it! We dismissed it!” 

“You _know_ , Bella. I know that you do,” he said in a low, gravelly tone almost like a growl. “How could you be with that? How could you be around a monster like that? How could you call it your boyfriend?”

“His name is Edward; if you’re going to talk about him, use his name,” I said sharply. “And I like him.”

“You can’t even kiss it, Bella! What kind of healthy relationship is that?” he said angrily. He was still trembling, his muscles rippling under his skin. 

I didn’t think it was a good time to tell him that I could actually kiss him, and did so often. Not when he looked poised to rip something to shreds. 

“That’s none of your business, Jake,” I said quietly, but I could feel the traitorous blush flare on my cheeks.

He studied me closely, and I looked away. He smacked his workbench again and I definitely heard a crack. I jumped and my gaze snapped up to find him glaring at me. “Are you brain dead? You let that thing put its mouth on you? Do you understand the danger in that? In its teeth?” 

He stalked closer to me and I watched him wide-eyed, wondered what had gotten into him that he was this upset. Why had he suddenly changed his tune on the whole vampire story? Why did he look like he was struggling to control himself? He was such an easygoing kid. I had never seen him annoyed before, let alone panting with barely suppressed rage. 

“Jacob!” A deep, authoritative voice barked from the open garage door. 

Jacob froze and I wheeled around to see a boy maybe a year or two older than me standing there in a thin long-sleeved grey shirt and a pair of jeans cut off and fraying at his knees. He had short dark hair and skin just a shade or two deeper than Jacob’s, and he was broad in the chest and arms. I hadn’t seen him in years, but I would recognize Sam Uley’s scowl anywhere.

“You should go inside,” another boy said to me. He was standing next to the first one and he looked to be about my age, but a little smaller than Jacob, and he was glaring at me almost as angrily as Jacob was.

“We’ll take care of him,” said a third boy standing on the other side of the first boy. He was about Jacob’s size, with silky black hair to his chin. Both of them were dressed almost identically to the first boy like they were some sort of fashionably-challenged gang.

I looked from the three of them to Jacob, who was now glaring at them, the tremors even stronger so that his cheeks were trembling. “Jake?” I whispered. “Are you okay?” 

Jacob was staring at the three other boys, breathing heavily. 

“Go inside, Bella,” he said through clenched teeth. His hands were fisted at his sides and the trembling started to slow. 

“Who are they?” I demanded. I wasn’t just going to leave him alone with three guys I didn’t know, not when all four of them looked angry. What if they wanted to hurt him?

“My friends,” he spat, and he slanted a sideways glare at me. “More than you can say.”

“That’s not fair,” I said, and reached out to touch his arm.

“Don’t touch me!” he snapped, jumping away from me. I noticed the way the three other boys surged forward before Sam – the oldest, biggest, most authoritative one – stopped and the other two immediately fell in on either side of him again. “Fine, if you won’t leave, we will!”

He stormed away from me, and fell in line next to Sam, who gripped his shoulder in a brotherly way as the four of them turned and walked away without another glance at me. I stared after them, wondering what the hell had just happened. The only reason I even came down to La Push today was to see him because Renee and Charlie made me feel guilty for not spending much time with him since I started dating Edward. Well, if Jake was going to act like he knew better than me, and then storm away from me when I didn’t immediately bend to his will, I wasn’t going to just be waiting around for him when he came back.

With a scowl at the red shell of his precious Rabbit he was working tirelessly on, I stormed out of the garage, and pulled my phone out of my back pocket as I headed back to the house. It was just my luck that Edward wasn’t around to come pick me up, but I was desperate enough to get out of here to not let that stop me. I scrolled through my contact list until I found Emmett’s number - Alice added all of the Cullens’s numbers in my phone at lunch one day a couple weeks ago.

“Bella?”

“Hey, Emmett,” I said when he answered on the first ring. He sounded surprised, but not annoyed. “I’m sorry to bother you, but Edward said to let you know if I needed anything while he was gone.”

“Are you okay?” He sounded concerned, and there was a rustling on his end like he was moving very quickly. There was a beep that sounded like the garage door opening at the Cullens’s house. “What’s wrong? Did something happen down in La Push?”

I’d never heard Emmett so serious.

“Everything’s fine,” I told him. “I’m fine. Don’t worry. I just… I was wondering if maybe you might be willing to…”

“You want me to come get you?” Emmett said, taking mercy on me. Or maybe, like Edward, he tired quickly of my very human hesitation. “I’ll drive right on their land, treaty be damned.”

“No, Emmett. Don’t do that,” I said sternly with a furtive glance around to make sure no one was listening. The last thing I wanted was for Jacob and his friends to start telling people about the Cullens. It didn’t matter that most people would write off what they said; it would get people talking and make them start noticing the odd things about them. “I can get my dad to bring me to the border if you’ll just meet me there. That turn off by the main road, you know?”

“I know where the border is,” Emmett said. “I’ll be there.”

“Emmett,” I said quickly before he could hang up. I could already hear the loud groan of his silver Jeep’s engine. “Thank you.”

“No problem, Bella. You’re family.”

When he hung up abruptly, all I could do was stare at the phone in shock. I knew the Cullen family was close, and that they would do just about anything for each other. It was a surprise to realize that they may be starting to see me as one of them.

I turned to open the door, pausing for a brief moment when I heard a howl far off in the woods. It almost sounded like a wolf, but I didn’t think there were any wolves in the woods around here. With a frown, I turned and walked back into the house. There was a girl there now, a few years older than me, and pretty despite the three long thin scars marring her face. They looked like claw marks. She was sitting in the living room with Renee, Sue, and Harry, but the air seemed very tense between them. I wondered if this was Sue’s niece Emily who had come between Sam and Leah.

I cleared my throat gently. Charlie looked up from leaning over Billy’s chair, laughing at something he’d said, and noticed my weary expression.

“What happened?” he said, moving to my side quicker than I’d thought him capable. Billy looked at me with an odd expression, like he knew exactly what had happened and only hoped I wouldn’t mention it to Charlie. Renee turned in her spot on the couch next to Sue and Harry to look at me. The new girl looked at me, too, and her expression was much like Billy’s, like she knew what was going on too.

“Nothing,” I said. This time when I frowned, it was because of this girl who was watching me with this knowing, judgmental stare, but I turned to look at Charlie. “I just wanted to ask if you could drive me down to the border.”

“What? Why?” Charlie said with a deep frown. “You want me to bring you home?”

“No, you and Mom are having a good time. You should stay,” I said. “I called Emmett. He’s going to pick me up at the border.”

“Emmett?” Renee asked with a confused frown. “Edward’s older brother?”

“Yeah, Edward’s out with Alice and Jasper today,” I said. “Hiking.”

“Bella, what’s going on?” Charlie demanded.

“Dad.” I wasn’t about to complain about Jake being a jerk in front of his father, even though it looked like Billy knew more than I did about what had just happened. “Will you just take me? Either that or Emmett’s going to drive right up to the house. And that wouldn’t be a good idea, would it?”

Billy was still frowning at me, and I stared stoically back at him. Charlie noticed, and I saw the set of his jaw harden as he put two and two together.

“Yeah, I’ll bring you,” he said, and fished his keys out of his pocket. “Ready now?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t see how Emmett could reach the territory line before we did, but Edward often arrived places faster than I thought was possible and I knew he wasn’t the only Cullen with a penchant for speed.

“Are they still on about the Cullens?” Charlie demanded as soon as we set off down the road. “Because Billy said they were gonna back off on that and if they’re not, I’m gonna have to have a talk with him.”

“No, Dad. This is between Jake and me, okay? I don’t want you to get in another fight with Billy about something so stupid.” When his scowl didn’t falter, I sighed. “I mean it. Please, leave it alone. Billy didn’t do anything, so there’s no reason for you to get into it with him.”

“What was that crack about Emmett shouldn’t come up to the house, then?” Charlie said, and it suddenly occurred to me that being the Police Chief’s daughter while having to keep so many secrets might be a little tougher than I’d realized.

“They don’t like the Cullens here, Dad. Just because Billy’s backing off doesn’t mean that everyone will.” I wasn’t convinced that Billy was truly letting go of his prejudice against the Cullens, but he certainly wasn’t talking about it to Charlie anymore, and that was good enough for now.

“That family is so nice,” Charlie grumbled as we followed the winding road that cut through the dense trees. “They don’t deserve this treatment, and I hate that Jacob’s putting you in the middle of it. It’s just not fair.”

I didn’t say anything for a moment, and then I shrugged helplessly. “Sometimes, life isn’t fair.”

He sighed, and didn’t say anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thank you so much, as always, for reading! I'm not totally pleased with this chapter -- particularly the beginning gave me a lot of trouble, but here we are! I sincerely hope you enjoyed.
> 
> What did you think of poor Jake? Obviously we know what’s going on, even if Bella doesn’t. He tried so hard not to lose his temper. Pretty good control for such a young shapeshifter, if you ask me. Also, yes, I did make that happen a little sooner for him. It just worked with my story. 
> 
> Next time, we’ve got:
> 
> _Ch 15. – Before the Bear.  
>  “Emmett thinks Edward’s mindreading is cheating,” Rosalie told me, sounding very uninterested in the conversation.   
> “It is!” Emmett exclaimed. “How is it a fair fight if he knows everything I’m about to do?”   
> “How fair would it be if he couldn’t?” I wondered. I didn’t want to imagine Edward fighting someone as big and strong and, honestly, scary looking as Emmett.   
> “I’d kick his ass,” Emmett said with a feral grin.   
> “Edward would probably still win,” Rosalie said as she inspected her nails. She still sounded bored, but there was a small upward quirk of her lips that made me think she was enjoying ribbing on Emmett. “He’s much faster than you.” _


	16. Chapter 15. Before the Bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**Previously:** _
> 
> _"That family is so nice," Charlie grumbled as we followed the winding road that cut through the dense trees. "They don't deserve this treatment, and I hate that Jacob's putting you in the middle of it. It's just not fair."_
> 
> _I didn't say anything for a moment, and then I shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes, life isn't fair."_
> 
> _He sighed, and didn't say anything else._

Just as I'd suspected, looming ahead of us in the gloomy late morning when we pulled up to the edge of the Quileute territory was a huge silver Jeep with rows of black-rimmed headlights and a large, imposing man standing next to it. Charlie put the car in park and frowned.

"You sure you're okay?" Charlie said, eyeing Emmett leaning against his Jeep.

"Dad, you literally just said how nice the Cullens all are," I reminded him.

"I know, I know. He's just so… _big_ ," he grumbled.

I laughed quietly and shook my head. "Emmett's big, alright. A big teddy bear."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah." My heart stuttered and I swallowed hard when I saw the blonde waiting in the passenger's seat. "Besides, look. Rosalie's with him."

Personally, it seemed to me that Rosalie was more likely to want to hurt me than Emmett, even knowing his track record with losing control, but the presence of another girl did seem to comfort Charlie.

"Call me if you need anything," he told me.

"Thanks, Dad," I said and opened the door and slipped out quickly.

"Are you okay?" Emmett demanded as soon as I was close enough to hear him. "What happened? Seriously Bella. I'll take care of it."

"You will do nothing, Emmett Cullen," I hissed. I really didn't think Charlie could hear anything, but he was still sitting there waiting for me to get in the car and I didn't want to risk him catching anything we said. "Nothing happened."

"Bella, I know you well enough to know _something_ happened to make you call me," Emmett said, his hard expression holding me in place just as surely as his broad shoulder leaning against the door.

With a hefty sigh, I frowned and put my hands on my hips as I stared up into his amber eyes, blinking frequently against the drizzle falling into my face. "Are you going to let me in the car or make me stand out in the rain all day? Because it's pretty cold, and I wouldn't want to be the one to tell Edward that I got sick because _you_ wouldn't let me out of the rain."

"Oh. Sorry," he said, and stepped aside to open the door for me. I spent enough time with Edward, and was quickly getting there with Alice as well, to know that vampires didn't react to the rain the way humans did. It was like temperature extremes; they didn't really notice unless there was a huge deluge. I was surprised when Emmett offered a hand to help boost me into the backseat. Aside from Edward and Alice, and the one time Esme had kissed my cheek, the Cullens usually tried not to touch me. I was pretty sure it was more for my perceived comfort than for their own.

"Hello, Rosalie," I said shyly as I studied the complicated safety harness, perplexed for a moment before I decided to only buckle the basic lap strap and let the rest of the metal clips dangle.

She glanced at me in the rearview mirror, just the smallest flicker of her gaze to mine, and nodded. "Hello."

"I'm sorry for ruining your day," I said as Emmett smoothly backed the Jeep off the dirt road and onto the highway.

"Don't be stupid, Bella," Emmett said.

"Don't call her stupid, you imbecile," Rosalie snapped. "Edward will murder you."

Emmett rolled his eyes. "I'm not afraid of Edward."

"He beats you every time you convince him to wrestle with you," Rosalie said.

"Don't look so impressed, Bella." Emmett scowled playfully at me in the mirror. "He cheats."

"How does he cheat?" I asked with a frown. I couldn't picture Edward cheating at anything, and didn't see how one could cheat at wrestling.

"Emmett thinks Edward's mindreading is cheating," Rosalie told me, sounding very uninterested in the conversation.

"It is!" Emmett exclaimed. "How is it a fair fight if he knows everything I'm about to do?"

"How fair would it be if he couldn't?" I wondered. I didn't want to imagine Edward fighting someone as big and strong and, honestly, scary looking as Emmett. It was silly because Edward was practically indestructible as far as I knew, and his own brother wasn't likely to actually want to hurt him, but I was glad for whatever advantages Edward could use in a fight.

"I'd kick his ass," Emmett said with a feral grin.

"Edward would probably still win," Rosalie said as she inspected her nails. She still sounded bored, but there was a small upward quirk of her lips that made me think she was enjoying ribbing on Emmett. "He's much faster than you."

"Babe," Emmett said, betrayal evident in his tone. "You are so wrong."

They began to argue, an easy playful quality to their back-and-forth that was oddly comforting, and I tried to pay attention to their lighthearted bickering, but it was difficult to keep from thinking about Jacob's fury and his tremulous rage. Something about it just didn't sit right with me. I'd known he wouldn't be happy I was dating Edward, but I must have underestimated the depth of his crush on me. That or he wasn't nearly as dismissive of the supernatural as he had led me to believe that day on the beach.

"Hey, where are we going?" I asked. When I got in the car, I'd just assumed they would drop me off at home, or maybe if Emmett was feeling particularly serious about upholding Edward's request to look after me, they would bring me back to their house until Edward got home, but I suddenly realized that we had driven past Forks on the 101.

"Seattle," Emmett said cheerfully.

"What?" Were they just not even going to tell me we were going on a seven hour round trip? "Why?"

"Christmas shopping." She didn't roll her eyes, but the tone of Rosalie's voice heavily implied the urge to do so.

"Oh." With the novelty of my relationship with Edward serving as such a huge distraction, I had completely forgotten that Christmas was only a few weeks away. Forks was always cold and wet, and it hadn't really started to snow yet, so it somehow had slipped my mind. "Hey, um… can I ask a potentially stupid question?"

Rosalie didn't answer, but I saw her gaze flicker to me in the mirror again. Emmett laughed, and nodded.

"What would a human gift her vampire boyfriend for Christmas?" I asked.

This time, Rosalie did roll her eyes, and Emmett's booming laughter was almost deafening in the confines of the Jeep. I blushed, but it was actually kind of nice to just hang out with them. Even though Rosalie wasn't particularly friendly, Emmett more than made up for it.

We got to Seattle in just over two hours, which shocked me more than it should have. I really needed to stop being surprised by my vampire friends' ability to reach their destinations faster than they should be able to. Hadn't Edward told me they all liked to move fast, and wasn't that exactly why they all owned the cars they did?

We shopped for about an hour before Emmett decided that he needed to feed me and steered me to the food court. My mind was still reeling at the casual way Rosalie had just dropped nearly thirty thousand dollars on a Rolex for Emmett when he'd left us alone for a minute. That, too, shouldn't have surprised me; I knew they were rich. It just made me feel even more at a loss for what to get for Edward. I didn't have thirty thousand dollars to drop on a stupid watch.

"Are you okay? Oh, God, Edward's going to kill me if you're not okay," Emmett worried aloud after he paid for my hamburger. "You look pale. Here. Eat."

"I'm always pale," I whispered. Madison actually used to joke that I looked like a vampire. Looking back now, it was a very amusing coincidence that she'd thought that. I wasn't _quite_ as pale as them, though.

Emmett picked up the foil-wrapped hamburger and thrust it at me. I jerked back, a bit surprised when he almost hit me in the nose. Rosalie smacked him in the stomach. The resulting sound made several people nearby look around in alarm; it sounded like two boulders colliding. "Edward's _really_ going to kill you if you break her face with a hamburger."

I took the burger from him and unwrapped it gingerly. "Oh, not afraid of Edward, are you?"

Slowly, I took a bite, and watched the concern fade to surprise, which faded to annoyance before finally he settled on amused. He shook his head at me, grinning. Next to him Rosalie smirked, though she did look annoyed to find me amusing. I really didn't understand why she seemed so determined not to like me, but I knew we weren't going to get to the bottom of it today.

"I guess you're not dying if you're cracking jokes," Emmett said.

I rolled my eyes and took another bite. As usually happened lately, I didn't realized how hungry I was until I started eating.

They both watched me eat - if I wasn't so used to eating in front of Edward while he just sat and watched me, I might have found it uncomfortable. As it was, I was mostly just confused to see Emmett looking what one might consider nauseated and Rosalie looking envious. I didn't have long to wonder about their reactions because Emmett spoke up the moment I put the burger down and reached for my Coke.

"Is that actually… good?" he asked, and his nose wrinkled as he picked up the burger and brought it close to his face to study it. For one wild moment I was certain he was considering taking a bite of it, but he couldn't; Edward had told me that the process to rid their bodies of human food was incredibly unpleasant, even worse than a regular person vomiting.

"Yes, it is," I said, and snatched it from his hand before he could act on the impulse that was clear on his face.

He retaliated by swiping the Coke off of the tray he had brought me and taking a big, long gulp through my straw. I gaped at him and Rosalie turned in her seat to face him, repulsion marring her beautiful face. For one brief moment, his expression was completely neutral. Then he shuddered violently - his chair groaned in protest - and dropped the drink back in front of me with a dramatic frown and a long-suffering sigh.

"That is disgusting." His words were accompanied by a definitive nod that left no room for argument.

"I can't believe you just did that," Rosalie hissed at him. She looked around as if half expecting the group of pre-teens a table over to start screaming and brand him a vampire. I thought she was overreacting. It wasn't exactly unheard of for someone to dislike Coca Cola.

"You probably used to like stuff like this," I pointed out as I picked up the burger again and took another bite. "Coke and a burger? Classic American meal."

He was too big, too muscular, to not have had a lot to eat in his human days. Even if he lived a life outdoors doing a lot of heavy lifting and manual labor, he wouldn't have gotten so big without a hefty appetite.

One of his shoulders lifted in a shrug and he looked like he was trying very hard to remember.

"I liked to hunt," he said after a moment, when my burger was almost gone. "Well, I _had_ to hunt or we would have never had any meat on the table. But I still liked it. You don't hunt _cows_."

"Can you?" I asked. I knew I didn't have to clarify that I wanted to know if the Cullens ever hunted cows.

Rosalie scowled down at the table and was very quiet. I was beginning to think she just didn't like when I talked about vampire things. Emmett made a face at me and shrugged. "If you're desperate enough, sure. But cows are slow. No fight. Boring. And they taste bland. Herbivores. Carnivores are where it's at."

"Edward said you're a fan of bear," I said, realizing a moment too late that Emmett might not be happy to hear that his brother was telling me personal things about him.

Emmett only smirked, though. I should have known it wouldn't bother him; Edward wouldn't knowingly tell me something about one of his family members that would upset them. "He tell you how I died?"

"Not the whole story." I crumpled the empty foil in my hand and dropped it on the tray, suddenly very eager. Now that I'd heard Carlisle's origin story in such vivid detail, I wanted to know the rest of them. "He just said that you were being mauled by a bear when Rosalie found you."

"Bella, that _is_ the whole story," Emmett said with a laugh as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

I pouted at him and tried very hard to ignore the glare Rosalie was sending me. "Come on, Carlisle's story was basically a novel."

He looked at me for a moment before finally he sat forward and rested his strong forearms on the table and leveled a warm, fond smile at me. "What do you want to know?"

Suddenly feeling rather timid, I shrugged and played with the foil wrapper in front of me. "What was your life like? Before… before the bear?"

"You want to know who Emmett McCarty was?" he teased, winking playfully at me.

"McCarty? That was your name?" I asked, and then nodded eagerly. I wanted nothing more than to know all about Edward's family, about my friends. I was hungry for their stories.

He leaned forward on his arms to bring his face closer to me across the table. I mirrored his position so he wouldn't have to raise his voice for me and risk being overheard. Perhaps a crowded mall food court wasn't the safest place for this conversation, but he didn't seem particularly concerned.

"I was born in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 1915," he said, his deep voice quiet and not at all uncomfortable with the retelling of his life. "I was the youngest son of a big, poor Scotch-Irish family. I don't remember exactly how many older brothers I had - six or seven, I think - but I had one sister, younger than me. We had a small farm, not to sell produce in the market so much as to feed the family, though we did try to sell whatever we had leftover that we didn't need. My brothers and I all worked on the railroad. I was the youngest, like I said, but I was also the strongest, so I was able to keep up with them easily. I hunted to help keep the family fed, and I had a bad habit of losing what little extra money I had to myself gambling. I liked to drink, and I liked women. I had a lot of fun in my life. Maybe a bit too much fun."

"Sounds like your life was… very different from Edward's," I said. Edward, who had grown up wealthy and soft and quiet and shy with his mother as his closest most trusted companion, who had probably never even spoken to a girl his own age before, who only ever interacted with other boys his age when he joined them for a game of baseball, who preferred holing up in his manor house with his mother to play piano and read the classics, who somehow despite all his isolation managed to contract a deadly virus that would have killed him had Carlisle not saved him.

Emmett laughed, that low rumbling sound deep in his chest that was just so warm and free, and nodded. "Yeah, we pretty much lived opposite lives."

I wondered if that ever made it difficult for them to connect, and then immediately disabused myself of that thought. Edward and Emmett seemed to have a really good brotherly relationship. While perhaps not as close as Edward and Alice, they certainly enjoyed teasing each other and apparently rough housing as well. I supposed having vampirism in common did a lot to ease any differences in their human upbringings. That, and I was finding that it was very difficult not to get along with Emmett.

"Anyway, I was out hunting one day and ran into a bear. Literally, almost ran right into it. It was on me before I could get my gun raised. Then, it was gone and I could hear another struggle, all these primal growls. I thought there was another bear, and they were fighting over my corpse. Then, it was quiet and I was flying. I opened my eyes, and I saw my angel, the most beautiful creature I'd ever laid eyes on and I thought, _this isn't so bad_."

He was looking at Rosalie now, and she was looking back at him, still scowling, but her gaze had softened quite a bit.

"She brought me to God." He chuckled, and I realized he was talking about Carlisle. I already knew this part of his story; Edward had told me how Rosalie found him and brought him to Carlisle to change him, but I wanted to hear his version of it. "The pain was horrible, the flames of hell burning agony right through me, but my angel was there by my side the entire time. Every time God came in to check on me, I feared he would take my angel away, but he didn't. _Merciful God_ , I thought. Then it was all over, and they explained to me what had happened."

"What then?" I asked. When he tore his gaze from Rosalie to shoot me a questioning glance, I elaborated. "I mean, what did you do? What did you think? How did you react? It must have been a big shock."

"I was pretty okay with it, actually. Hell's not so bad with an angel by your side," he said on an easy shrug. "The vegetarian thing was the tough part. Like I said, I liked to have fun in my youth. I wasn't very good at controlling myself and ignoring temptation. I slipped up a lot those first few years, and we all had to move on a few times before anyone got suspicious. I never saw my family again. Couldn't. I wouldn't have been able to control myself around them at first. Then, when I could control myself, too many years had passed and I hadn't changed at all. I asked Edward to help me gather a pretty decent fortune and I left it in a sack on their doorstep. It was all I could do for them."

"Wow," I said. Emmett was so different than Edward. It kind of surprised me, really. He was so big and intimidating on the outside; it just made sense that he would be the angry one, the resentful one, the one who hated what he had become. But he wasn't. He was just … exactly what I had told my dad a few hours ago. "You really are just a big teddy bear."

Emmett looked at me blankly for a moment and if he hadn't just told me how sweet and soft he really was under all that brawn, I might have worried that he was offended. He shook his head and sighed woefully. "I can't believe you said that to the Chief."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. She wasn't scowling anymore, which made me think she was a little amused as well. I wanted to ask her what her story was, but I was certain that wouldn't be a good idea. She had been mostly nice to me all day - not warm by any means, but nice enough - but she frowned and rolled her eyes at me enough for me to realize that she wasn't quite over whatever it was that bothered her about me. I was still hungry for more information, though, and I wasn't sure how long I would be able to bite my tongue.

Suddenly, Emmett and Rosalie looked up, their heads turning in the same direction in unison. Rosalie rolled her eyes, and Emmett grinned broadly. I turned to see what had caught their attention and spotted him immediately. There he was, walking towards us across the food court. I felt my mouth drop open and I was sure I looked stupidly ridiculous as I gaped at him, but he only smiled, his eyes on mine, clearly as elated to see me as I was to see him.

"Edward," I breathed. "How…? Alice."

His smile widened, and I knew he heard me, even as far away as he was, and as crowded as the mall was in the early afternoon on a Saturday. He was walking at a carefully measured pace, just quick enough that any humans who noticed him would clearly see he was eager, but so maddeningly slow that I knew he was frustrated with how long it was taking him to reach me. I got up and walked as quickly as I dared to him.

He wrapped me in his arms the second we reached each other, and we pressed ourselves to each other like we hadn't seen each other in weeks, rather than twenty-four hours. I felt his chest expand against me and knew he was inhaling me in the way that he always did; I buried my face in the front of his shirt and did the same, eyes closed, filling my lungs with him. His hands on the sides of my neck gently drew my face up to his as he leaned down to meet my lips with his.

"Hi." His breath, cool and fresh, blew across my face when he pulled back.

"Hi," I murmured. "I missed you."

"You have no idea," he said, and this close to him, I could see that beyond the joy in his eyes, there was concern. He wanted to know why I'd had to call his brother to come rescue me; his gaze roved my face and body. While I knew he was merely taking stock, making sure I wasn't hurt anywhere - as if he couldn't smell that I was just fine - I felt a familiar sort of warm longing when his gaze drifted down from my face.

"Later," I said before he could ask me what happened, why I had called Emmett to pick me up like I was so certain I wouldn't have to. "Let's just have a _normal_ afternoon for once."

He cocked his head to the side almost imperceptibly and I knew he was listening to something I couldn't hear. I turned my head sharply to the table I had abandoned to see if I could discern what Emmett and Rosalie were telling him, but they were already gone.

"Alright," he said, and I turned back to look at him just in time for him to press his lips to mine in another chaste affectionate kiss. "What would you like to do?"

"What did Emmett just tell you?" I asked, frowning up at him with my hands on his chest in what would be a fruitless attempt at keeping him from kissing me again in another attempt at distracting me if he wasn't so respectful of my wishes.

"You asked for a normal afternoon, Bella," he reminded me, as if I couldn't remember what I had said to him thirty seconds ago. "We'll talk about it later."

"Fine," I said, realizing that Emmett had likely been sharing his own theories about what had happened today. I slid one of my hands down his arm and he slid his hands from my waist to allow me to twine my fingers with his.

"So, what would you like to do?" he asked again as we ambled aimlessly from the food court.

"Oh. We could… um…" I realized that I had no idea what a normal date entailed. I would have been embarrassed if it weren't for the fact that I knew Edward was just as clueless as I. Sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of my bottom lip, I looked around, trying to gauge what other young couples were doing. "I guess we could just walk around?"

I half expected him to laugh at my helpless suggestion, but he only smiled down at me and shifted our arms so that his was slung across my shoulders. "Okay," he said simply.

I didn't want to unlink our fingers, but I couldn't walk around with my arm diagonally across my own torso. Compromising, I took my hand from his and slid my arm around his waist to rest on his firm hipbone. "Okay," I echoed, and turned my face to press my smile against his forearm when he squeezed me gently.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked as we meandered around, people watching and pretending not to notice the people people-watching us. "Your family, I mean."

"Emmett and Rose left," he told me, carefully guiding me out of the way of a large group of people who threatened to knock us apart. "They left the Jeep in the parking lot for us. Esme, Alice, and Jasper were headed home when I decided to come meet up with you here."

"Oh," I said, only a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to see the rest of them today. I knew I would see Alice and Jasper at school on Monday, and it wouldn't be long before I saw Esme again. Really, I was more than happy to relish in the rare opportunity for a normal date with Edward. "Emmett and I had a really nice conversation. He's great."

"I know. I caught the tail end of his story," he said with another crooked smile down at me as he tapped the side of his head with one long, slender finger. "He's very fond of you. He thinks of you as a little sister."

If he'd told me that just a few hours ago, I would have assumed he was exaggerating. But now, after spending time getting to know Emmett, I believed him wholeheartedly. It made me smile again, and I ducked my head, surprisingly embarrassed by how happy I was to be loved by his family.

"I guess it's only Rosalie who hates me," I said.

"She doesn't hate you," Edward said firmly, moving out of the way of the other people walking the mall and pulling me to a stop against a wide support pillar. He turned me to face him, and guided my chin up so he could look me in the eyes and ensure he got his point across. "She doesn't. She's just working through her own issues."

"I know. I was exaggerating," I assured him, slipping both of my arms around his waist as he let his hands fall from my face to rest on the small of my back, and in my hair. "She was actually mostly nice to me today."

"Mostly nice? Wow, she must really like you," Edward teased. His smirk slid slowly from his face, his gaze intensifying as he drank me in; I felt my cheeks burn from the passion I saw there. "But who couldn't?"

He kissed me again, less chaste than before, and I rocked up onto the tips of my toes again, pressing our fronts firmly together as I trailed my hands up his sides, around his back, and into his silky hair. When he pulled away with a grin, my breath was ragged. I licked my lips and kissed him again. He pulled back again after a few seconds.

"People are looking," he murmured into my hair. "You should hear what they're thinking."

I wanted to tell him I didn't care, and to just keep on kissing him. The problem was, I did care. It wasn't like his initial reluctance to kiss me in front of anyone when we first started dating; I wasn't worried about what was proper, what was accepted. I just wanted privacy for when I inevitably lost myself in wanting him.

I slid my hands from his hair and pulled out of his grasp to link our fingers again. "If people are judging us, then I think we're doing this normal date thing right."

When we started walking, I bumped his hip with mine. I knew it didn't have the same affect on him that it would on a normal boy, who might have stumbled a bit, but he laughed and kissed the side of my head as we continued on.

A few minutes later, he dragged me into a music store that boasted a modest collection of guitars and keyboards, a drum kit, and one upright piano. I laughed when he sat me down on the narrow bench in front of the piano and perched himself ceremoniously next to me. My laughter stopped immediately in favor of a soft smile when he began playing the song he composed for me.

His family might have teased him for showing off for me if they were around, but I didn't mind. I liked that he wanted to show off for me. I liked how talented he was. I liked just about everything about him. As I leaned my head on his shoulder, I didn't even notice the small crowd that formed around us to listen to him play. I didn't see anything but him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope you liked Emmett, because lord knows I love that silly family-vamp! What do you guys think of Rosalie? Personally, I am not a fan of canon Rosalie, which pisses me off because I feel like she had so much potential! I really just want to make her less one-dimensional than she is in the books! Another thing I'm determined to do is give Edward and Bella a better foundation for a real relationship. Some normalcy, if you will. Not everything has to be crazy intense all the time, though of course it will be. This is still Twilight, after all.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think!
> 
> Next time:
> 
> _Ch 16. Merry Christmas._
> 
> _"Because I wanted to give you this." There was a box in his hand, small like the one Rosalie had given me, but not wrapped._
> 
> _"Oh," I said, and gingerly accepted the gift when he held it out to me._
> 
> _"I want you to know I didn't spend any money," he told me when I hesitated to open it. "It's something I've always had."_
> 
> _I raised an eyebrow at that, and carefully flipped the hinged lid. My mouth fell open as I looked down at the simple, oval gold locket resting on a bed of soft white cotton._


	17. Chapter 16. Merry Christmas.

Christmas came and went in a flurry of cold, wet snow and sleet. For the first time in my life, I received more presents than I knew what do with. From my parents, I got a new camera and a beautiful blank photo album. I was more than content for those to be my only two gifts and planned to begin filling my album immediately when I went to the Cullens' house.

What I was not expecting was the sheer magnitude of gifts I received from them. The entire drive over to his house, I had lamented to Edward that I hadn't gotten gifts for any of his family members. It felt selfish and wrong to go over there only to receive gifts and not give any, but Edward told me that his family weren't expecting anything from me, that the best gift I could give them was to accept all of their gifts. I had no reason not to believe him, but it didn't stop me from feeling guilty that I simply couldn't afford to buy gifts for seven vampires who already had everything they needed and wanted, and more.

Alice, vibrating with joy as usual, thrust a large elegantly wrapped box in my hands the second Edward and I walked in the front door, tying up my hands as Edward tried to help me out of my coat. It was a dress, one that she implored me to go change into right that moment.

I received gifts from the rest of them, too. Emmett gave me a new sound system for my truck, and surprised me by telling me that he had already installed it for me even as it sat in my parents' driveway. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was a waste. I'd only driven the thing a handful of times in the months since I'd started dating Edward.

Carlisle handed me a heavy, thick gift wrapped in smooth green paper. It was a first edition copy of _Wuthering_ _Heights_. I didn't even balk at the sheer amount of money it must have cost him, and I didn't hesitate to throw my arms around Edward's best friend / brother / father figure as I thanked him profusely.

Esme's gift came in a large, beautiful bag of soft purple. I sighed contentedly as I pulled out a thick blanket of the softest, most luxurious material I had ever touched. It was the same color as the gift bag, and looked like it was bigger than my entire bed back home. I couldn't wait to curl up in it, maybe snuggle a bit with Edward and a cup of hot cocoa if we could manage to find some time alone in the coming days.

Jasper's gift was handed to me by Edward as Jasper remained leaning against the wall, further from me than the rest of the family, but smiling warmly all the same. It was another book, another first edition classic. It wasn't one I had read yet, but I sure was excited to as my fantasy shifted to Edward and me curled up in my new cozy blanket with a cup of cocoa reading this book together. I didn't hug Jasper, of course, but I grinned at him and thanked him all the same. I knew he could feel my emotions, and that he knew how happy he had made me.

I was surprised when Rosalie stepped forward and handed me a small box tied in a glittery black bow. Inside was a small, dainty little bracelet with a tiny green gemstone that perfectly matched the color of the dress Alice had forced me into. I thanked her as Edward helped me clasp it on my wrist, and tried not to wonder how much it had cost, remembering the casual way she had dropped nearly thirty thousand dollars on the watch that was now glittering on Emmett's wrist.

"I also made some modifications to your truck. The steering wheel was a little tight, so I fixed it and did a few other small things." She shrugged, flipping her hair back over her shoulder in what I thought was supposed to be a nonchalant move. "It should handle a little better now."

"Wow." I blinked at her. Rosalie was the resident car expert in the Cullen house, though they all could do basic repair work. The fact that she had used her knowledge to help me out was touching. "Thank you, Rose."

"It was nothing," she said, and turned away from me.

We stayed for a few hours – Esme had cooked for me, and Alice had ordered a cake big enough to feed twenty people. They sat around chatting with me and with each other as I ate more than I should have, and then I sat around and watched them. Emmett and Rosalie shared an oversized chair near the fireplace, which was roaring and made the room feel warm and lovely. Jasper and Alice played a very quick game of chess – Alice won easily because she could see every move Jasper was planning, and he playfully refused to ever play with her again. Esme and Carlisle stood nearby and watched with warm, happy smiles as Edward tried to teach me how to play the piano.

It was all very normal and happy, until Emmett started trying to convince Edward and Jasper to go outside and wrestle with him. Edward quickly decided it was time to bring me home, which was both a relief and a disappointment. On the one hand, I was interested to see how they moved when they were play-fighting. On the other, I was sure I would be a nervous ball of anxiety watching Edward face off against either one of his brothers, even though both Rosalie and Emmett had said weeks ago that Edward always won. Esme packed up all of the food she had cooked, and the ridiculous cake Alice had bought me, and Edward brought everything out to the car while his family took turns telling me goodnight.

The car ride home was quiet, just the soft sounds of classic Christmas music playing quietly from his speakers as he held my hand over the gear shift, kissing it every so often.

"Will you wait in my room?" I whispered when he walked me to my door. He flashed me a quick, bemused smile. He had only been in my room a couple of times, each time appearing unannounced at my window when he wanted to speak to me quickly. "I actually have something for you. I didn't want to give it to you in front of your family."

He cocked his head at me and smiled softly. "You didn't have to get me anything, Bella. You are the most perfect gift."

He meant it; I could see it in the gentle happy look in his amber eyes, feel it in the tender way his hands caressed my waist. I sighed and leaned up, pushing up as high on my tiptoes as I could until he bent down to let me brush my lips softly over his.

"Will you wait?" I murmured against his mouth as I wound my arms behind his neck.

"I'll wait," he promised. "I have something for you, too."

He kissed me once more, still tenderly, but less chaste than the one I'd just given him. He pulled away just as the front door opened in our faces. I wanted to scowl at whichever of my parents barged out on us, assuming they did it on purpose, but I let go of my anger when I noticed how shocked and embarrassed my father looked.

"Oh. Sorry." Charlie went red, rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, hi Edward. Were you coming in?"

I frowned at him, wondering why he was being so awkward; obviously he hadn't expected to open the door on us kissing, but he looked almost nervous. I realized why when I looked behind him to see Jacob with his hands on the back of Billy's wheelchair. They were both staring at me with discomfort and shock written all over their expressions.

"Hello, Charlie." Edward merely smiled blandly and shook his head. He knew all about what had happened the last time I went to La Push, and though he didn't explain anything to me, his anger when I'd filled him in had seemed over the top. Now, though, I was sure he was putting forth effort to remain calm in front of Charlie. I wondered why he hadn't told me they were here, or if he hadn't realized who was in the house until it was too late. "No, thank you very much. I was just dropping Bella off."

I reached for the bag he held out, the one filled with food and all the presents his family had given me, but Charlie took it first and whistled at the weight of it. "Geez, what all did they give you?"

"I'll show you later," I said, making a show of rubbing my arms as I avoided looking at his guests. "It's really cold out here."

"Oh, right." He stood aside and gestured for me to head in.

"Goodnight, Bella," Edward said softly. "I'll talk to you later."

I smiled at him over my shoulder and nodded. "Goodnight, Edward."

I moved past Jacob quickly, still avoiding looking at him, and stopped for just a second to pop my head into the kitchen and tell Renee hello before I made a beeline for the stairs.

"Bella, wait." I froze with my hand on the stair railing and looked at Jacob over my shoulder. He was standing just a couple feet behind me. I could see Charlie carefully wheeling Billy out to the car through the open door. Edward was gone, and I figured he was only parking his car a few streets over and would be upstairs within a minute; he wouldn't want to leave me alone with Jacob and Billy around, not after what happened last time I talked to Jake.

"What?" I demanded with a frown.

"Can I please talk to you?" he asked, and gave me some truly heartbreaking puppy dog eyes. "It'll only take a second, I promise."

I heard the water shut off in the kitchen and knew that Renee was eavesdropping. Jacob seemed to realize this as well because he turned to look at the kitchen doorway before stepping closer to me so we were practically toe to toe. I realized then that he had somehow managed to grow more than a foot in the months since I'd first moved here. Where he had been only an inch or two taller than me when we first met, I now had to crane my neck to look up at him.

"You gonna call me stupid again?" I rolled my eyes and scowled at him. Remembering Renee, I lowered my voice to a hiss. "Gonna tell me I don't know what I'm doing? That it's all just so wrong and so gross? I'm not interested, Jake."

He caught my wrist when I turned to storm away, and I wheeled back to face him and wrenched my arm from his gentle grip. Even two steps up from him, he was still a little taller than me.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry," he said, and I saw true remorse in his eyes. "I just got so mad. I don't really think you're stupid. I mean, sure, I don't think it's a _good idea_ what you're doing, but you're not stupid. I just wanted you to know that I care about you, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Aw, Jake." I groaned and looked up the stairs. Edward was there, I just knew it. Jake followed my gaze, and the hard set of his jaw made me think that he knew it, too. "Look, I'm sorry too. I think I messed up bad when I first moved here."

"What do you mean?" His face was scrunched up in confusion and I felt that warm, fond feeling of friendship bubbling in my chest.

"I shouldn't have flirted with you to get that story out of you," I whispered. I wasn't worried about Edward hearing me; he already knew how I'd found out about him. I was worried about Renee. "I led you on and then things got complicated."

He stared at me for a minute, and then burst out laughing. I scowled at him, arms crossed over my chest until he stopped and gasped for air. "You think… you think you _tricked_ it out of me?" He wiped at the tears that appeared at the corners of his eyes and shook his head. "Bella, I knew what you were doing. You weren't that subtle. I didn't actually think that you liked me, but sure, I let myself pretend for a second. I just didn't believe what I was telling you. If I did, I probably would have kept it from you and then you never would have known, and maybe you wouldn't be with him now."

"It was always going to happen. I already had my suspicions, I just needed to hear them confirmed, and he was going to tell me anyway," I admitted very quietly. Jacob frowned at me, his eyebrows drawing together as he stared at me. "That night, actually. He met up with all of us in Port Angeles. He was going to tell me, but I already knew."

He took a deep breath. When I saw the furrow of his brow, I figured he was attempting to calm himself. He leaned his shoulder against the wall next to me and let the breath out in a rush of air.

"Are we okay, Bella?" he asked, peering at me through those thick black lashes.

I hesitated, biting my lip. "You were like a completely different person, Jake. It was… it was scary."

"Yeah, but you know why," he said confidently. When I frowned at him, his confidence faltered and gave way to what looked almost like desperation. "I can't say it now, but you already know. I told you. I already _told_ you."

"What?" I shook my head; now I was sure my face was screwed up in confusion as I tried to figure out what he was talking about. "Jake, I don't know what you mean."

"No, Bella, you _know_. I just can't talk about it until you say it, but you _know_ ," he insisted, growing more agitated. That trembling was starting again, and I knew he was struggling to repress something big, something dangerous.

"Your dad's waiting for you," I said softly. I needed him to leave before he got any more upset. If he got as mad as he'd been in his garage before those boys had come to get him, I just knew Edward was going to step in and things would get very ugly. "You need to go."

"Bella," he whispered.

"I'll try to come out to La Push again next time my parents do," I told him. "But I can't make any promises, Jake."

"Your dad's all packed away, Jake," Charlie said loudly, cheerfully, as he stepped back inside. He stopped and looked at us, taking in the wary look on my face and the badly suppressed anger on Jake's. "Whoa, hey, what's going on?"

"It's nothing, Dad," I said quickly. The last thing I needed was for Charlie to get upset and make whatever Jake was struggling to contain even worse. "He's not feeling well. He was just leaving."

"This isn't still about…" Charlie started in a stern tone, but I cut him off.

"It's _fine_ , Dad." My tone was firm, and my gaze was pointed. Charlie held up his hands in surrender, but didn't leave the little hallway where he could stand and closely monitor the situation. "I'll see you later, Jake. Drive safe."

"Bye, Bella," Jacob said. The trembling had stopped right around the time Charlie came inside, and he was mostly just sad now.

I frowned after him as he walked away with his head hanging like a kicked puppy, and I could see the concern in Charlie's gaze as he watched him climb into the car with Billy. I had no idea what was going on with him. I wondered if Edward would be willing to give me any information; he usually liked to keep people's more personal thoughts to himself, but maybe it would be different with Jake.

"Weren't you going to show me what you got in here?" Charlie asked as I started up the stairs again, intent now on trying to get some answers. I turned again to see him nudge the huge bag with his toe.

"Oh. Right." I joined him by the front door and struggled to lift the bag. He wasn't being dramatic earlier when he commented on how heavy it was. He brushed my hands away and took the bag from me. "Let's go to the kitchen; a lot of it's food. They sent me with leftovers."

He perked up considerably at that and I could see him trying to peer into the opening of the bag curiously.

"Leftovers?" Renee said as she dried her hands on a damp blue dishtowel. She frowned at Charlie when he hefted the bag onto the kitchen table and took out a large container of the delicious roast Esme had cooked for me. "I thought you were full!"

"I am! I'm just curious!" Charlie said, but he and I shared a private look when Renee turned to get a glass of water. He most definitely was not full on anything she had cooked for dinner.

I unpacked all of the food containers and loaded them into the refrigerator, carefully placing them in front of Renee's leftover cooking so that Charlie could easily fix himself a plate as soon as she went upstairs to shower. He nodded at me appreciatively when I turned back around, and I winked at him.

"So," I said, reaching into the bag once more. "Jasper and Carlisle got me these really nice books. Emmett got me a new sound system for my car, and somehow he's already managed to install it. Esme gave me this blanket, and Alice gave me this dress she made me wear."

"Nice," Charlie said, inspecting the empty sound system box. "How did he install it already?"

"I don't question Emmett." I shook my head helplessly as Renee walked over to admire the blanket from Esme. As she reached out to inspect one of the books, something else caught her attention and she gripped my hand in hers to lift my wrist.

"What a pretty bracelet. Is that from Edward?" Renee asked, touching the dainty silver chain.

"No, it's from Rosalie," I said. When she raised her eyebrows – my parents knew Rosalie was not my biggest fan in the Cullen house – I shrugged.

"What did Edward give you?" Charlie asked as he tossed the empty box back down on the table.

"Oh, he hasn't given it to me yet. He said he'd give it to me later," I said, gnawing on the inside of my cheek anxiously. He was up in my room right now, waiting for me.

"Why? Weren't you together all night?" Renee said. She did have a point; Edward picked me up around five, and it was now after nine o'clock.

"Yeah, but we were with his whole family." I shrugged. I really didn't know why he hadn't given me whatever it was yet, but I knew one possible explanation that my parents would buy. "Probably he didn't want to deal with Emmett and Jasper."

I knew why I hadn't given him his gift yet. I wanted to be alone with him when I gave it to him, as it was both silly and sentimental, and potentially embarrassing. It made sense to me that his reasoning could be similar.

"You two have plans tomorrow?" Charlie asked.

I shrugged again. I knew I was going to see him tomorrow; I saw him everyday. We just hadn't discussed it. "Nothing definite."

What we did have was plans for right now, and I was growing more and more anxious the longer I left Edward to his own devices in my bedroom. I didn't think he would go snooping, not when he knew I had something there for him, but what if he did?

"I'm gonna head up to bed, if that's okay," I said, already starting for the stairs. "I'm beat."

"Don't you want to watch a movie?" Renee protested.

It was an unspoken tradition for the two of us – and I guessed it would now expand to include Charlie – to watch an old classic together on Christmas night, after all the festivities were over. Some years, we would be too tired by the end of it to make our way up to our beds, preferring instead to camp out on the living room floor.

"Um." I hesitated, and looked back to see the hurt in her face. I sighed. She was already so put out that I didn't share many details about my relationship with Edward. I couldn't bring myself to deny her this now. "Yeah, okay. Just let me go change really quick."

"Okay!" Renee said, and her happiness was radiant as I turned and ran up the stairs as fast as I dared.

He was on my bed, leaning against my pillows with his legs crossed at the ankles, his arms resting bent behind his head. His shoes were neatly lined up beneath the window he'd come through. He smiled as soon as he saw me.

"I am so sorry," I said, knowing that he heard my exchange with Renee. "It's tradition."

"It's not a problem," he assured me as I rushed to my closet and pulled out a pair of long flannel pajamas.

"We can do the gift thing really quick now if you want," I told him. His was just on my desk, hidden under a stack of papers.

"That's alright. I'll wait." He hadn't moved an inch when I turned to face him again, to study his expression and see if he really wanted to wait for me.

"I don't want you to sit here bored out of your mind," I told him, clutching my pajamas in my fist.

"I'll wait," he promised, and suddenly he was standing before me, his hand gentle on my cheek. "I've waited more than a century for you. I can wait a couple more hours."

I blushed and turned my face more into his hand and wrapped my arms around his waist. "You're the most incredible person."

"I believe that title belongs to you," he said with a small smile.

I gave myself a minute to snuggle into his chest and then pulled away. "Will you turn around for a minute?"

He gave me an odd look, and I held up my pajamas. His eyes widened slightly before he did as I asked, and I did the same. I couldn't change my clothes while _looking_ at him. It was nerve-wracking having him here, standing inches away from me as I struggled to reach the back of my dress. I bit my lip when I realized it was a fruitless attempt. Alice had helped me into the thing, now I was going to need help getting out of it. I wondered if she had seen this moment happening when she insisted I change clothes tonight.

"Actually," I said, and felt my already flushed skin grow even warmer. "Can you unzip this dress?"

I didn't turn to face him, but I felt his hands on the back of my neck a moment later. I wasn't surprised, but a little disappointed when he dragged the zipper down carefully but quickly, his fingers quick and methodical and not even brushing my spine. When I glanced over my shoulder at him, he had already turned back around, so I let the material fall to the floor and stumbled into my warm pajamas.

"Thanks," I said when I was changed.

"You're welcome." When he turned around again, his face betrayed no trace of how he felt about what had just happened, whereas I knew I was bright red all over my body.

"Well, I guess I'll, um, be back in a little while."

Feeling incredibly awkward, I turned to the door. He caught my hand and pulled me back to him and I sighed contentedly as he wrapped me in his arms. He didn't kiss me, just held me to his chest in a sweet embrace.

When he released me, he resumed his earlier position on my bed as if he'd never moved from it. "I'll be right here."

Never had I had more difficulty sitting through a movie than tonight, with the knowledge that Edward was in my room right over my head waiting for me. Not even that first time we'd tried to watch a movie together in Port Angeles with all my human friends was more difficult. At least then he'd been sitting right next to me where I could have reached out and touched him had I the courage at that point.

Luckily for me, Renee didn't seem to notice my inattention, and Charlie was just so happy to be partaking in a long-standing tradition of ours that he didn't notice much of anything. I wished suddenly that Edward had come inside with me when we got back; Renee probably would have invited him to watch as well. Of course, that might not have been a good idea, considering our struggle to keep our hands off each other the last time we had been in a dark room with a movie playing. And we weren't even dating yet then.

It was almost midnight by the time the movie ended and I kissed Charlie and Renee goodnight and gathered my Christmas presents from the Cullens and raced back up the stairs.

He was still there, in that exact same position. I wondered if he had actually not moved a muscle since I left; he'd told me it was easy for them to freeze, to basically become statues if they chose. Then he grinned at me and held one hand out to beckon me to him. I detoured to my desk to set down the books from Carlisle and Jasper and to grab the two small gifts I had for him, and then jumped on the bed with him to snuggle into his side.

"What did you do while I was downstairs?" I whispered against his neck. I knew my breath was hot to him, and I wondered what sort of reaction his body would have had if he were a human. Would he have shivered against me? Would his flesh have erupted in goosebumps? When he turned his head and pressed his smiling mouth to my temple, I found I didn't much care about what-ifs. I was perfectly content with the vampire I had.

"I meditated," he murmured, and his cool breath did make me shiver and clutch him closer.

"You meditate?" I questioned, trying to peer up at his face even as I clung to him.

"Some form of it," he told me. "It doesn't work quite the same as it does for humans, but it does help to clear my head when I'm upset. It blocks out some of the background noise, but not all of it."

He tapped the side of his head with one finger to indicate that he was referring to his mindreading.

"You're upset?" I said with a deep frown, struggling out of his grasp to sit cross-legged beside him. "Why?"

"I'm not upset." He sighed as he mirrored my position. "Poor choice of words, I apologize. I was feeling… I guess the emotion would be _anxious_."

"Why were you anxious?" I demanded. I couldn't imagine Charlie and Renee could have been thinking much that would bother him, not while watching a movie all snuggled up on the couch like I'd wanted to be with _him_.

"Because I wanted to give you this." There was a box in his hand, small like the one Rosalie had given me, but not wrapped.

"Oh," I said, and gingerly accepted the gift when he held it out to me.

"I want you to know I didn't spend any money," he told me when I hesitated to open it. "It's something I've always had."

I raised an eyebrow at that, and carefully flipped the hinged lid. My mouth fell open as I looked down at the simple, oval gold locket resting on a bed of soft white cotton.

"I don't actually remember my mother wearing it, but there's a photo inside that makes me think she must have," he said, and I couldn't recall him ever sounding so nervous. "Obviously, you don't have to keep the photo inside it. You can put whatever you like… I just thought you might like to see it."

As carefully as I could, I opened the dainty locket. And gasped.

The old photo was sepia toned, whether due to age or because it was always that way I had no way of knowing. I doubted Edward would know, either. A young boy – maybe thirteen years old – with a head of wild, thick hair gleaming in the sun stared up at me.

Edward.

He was wearing a pair of dark pants, black or grey, and suspenders of the same color over a long-sleeved white shirt. His smile hadn't changed one bit, but there were small differences in his face that could have been caused by puberty or the change. He was a gangly thing, clearly just having hit a huge growth spurt. He was just as tall as the woman who stood on his left, but nowhere near as tall as the man on his right.

"Are these your parents?" I whispered. My fingers trembled when I stroked the image of him as a young human boy.

"Yes," he said just as softly. "Elizabeth Masen and Edward Anthony Masen, Sr."

He looked a lot like his father, I realized, studying the tall man in the photo. He was wearing a stiff-looking suit and tie and his smile was thin and strained. He looked like a man who took himself very seriously, and he didn't show his son any affection, at least not in this photo. But the shape of his eyes, his chin, his nose. Those were all Edward.

His mother was beautiful and kind looking. Her smile was free and happy, and matched that of her son. She stood close to him, her arm around his waist. Her hair was curly and, though it wasn't a color photo, I could tell it was the same shade as Edward's while the man's was significantly darker. She was wearing a simple white dress, high-waisted with a pretty ribbon tied there to accentuate her slim build. Something about her reminded me of Esme Cullen, though they didn't look much alike aside from the pale skin. Maybe it was the way they both so clearly adored their son.

Edward, _my_ Edward, the real one sitting on my bed next to me, was staring at me when I managed to look up. I realized I was tearing up when he turned blurry. With an embarrassed laugh, I blinked and swiped my hands under my eyes. He looked concerned, or nervous, or some mixture of the two, when my vision cleared and I could finally make out his expression.

"I love it," I told him. "Thank you. I'll treasure it always."

He looked confused for a moment when I closed the locket and handed it back to him, but he caught on quickly when I turned my back to him. I felt the mattress shift a moment before I felt his cool presence behind me. He gently lifted my hair from the back of my neck, brushed it forward. Then he reached forward and laid the locket on my chest. His fingers brushed the nape of my neck as he clasped it together.

He didn't move back, so instead of turning back to face him, I leaned back against him. He wrapped his arms around my middle and rested his chin on my shoulder. I suspected he was eyeing his necklace on my skin.

"I had a hard time thinking of what to get you," I admitted, pushing my hair behind my ear as it fell into my face when I ducked my head.

"You didn't have to get me anything," he murmured in my ear, and touched his lips to my neck.

"You keep saying that, but do you know how I would have felt not giving you _anything_ after you gave me this?" I touched the pretty locket, still cool on my chest. "I mean, what I did end up with is stupid enough as it is. I honestly meant it to be a joke."

"Bella." He moved, appeared in front of me in an instant, put both of his hands on my shoulders, and ducked his face to look me in the eyes. "Whatever it is, it's perfect because it's from you."

I could see that he meant it, but I still felt stupid as I handed him the little box that I had wrapped carefully with a shimmering gold paper that reminded me of his eyes. I sank my teeth into my bottom lip, my fingers curling in the soft blanket from Esme as I watched him slowly slide his finger under the tape. He was one of those who didn't like to tear the wrapping paper, apparently. The discovery didn't surprise me.

He looked in my eyes as he lifted the lid from the little box and tipped the contents into his hand. When he looked down, he stared at the tiny wooden hand-carved mountain lion figurine for what felt like an eternity before a charmed smile parted his perfect lips. A soft laugh fell from his mouth as he ran his fingers over it.

Obviously, he understood why I had chosen this gift for him. Mountain lion was his favorite, after all. What he didn't know was that I had struggled for weeks trying to figure out a present for him. When I'd stumbled on this in a small shop in Port Angeles with Renee a few days ago, I'd figured this was the best I was going to find. In all honesty, I thought it could be a cute little inside joke between us. As I studied his face, it was immediately apparent that there was nothing _cute_ about it to him. He truly loved it, just as he'd sworn he would; it _touched_ him.

"You think this is stupid?" he finally said, his voice so soft and full of wonder as he tipped my chin up with one long, slender finger. "I have the cap of your water bottle from the very first time you joined me for lunch. It's hidden away in a drawer in my bedroom and I take it with me every time I leave you to go hunting."

Something about that should have been weird, I thought. But I couldn't find it in me to feel uncomfortable about it. I felt… warm. I smiled at him and leaned in to brush my lips against his. "Maybe you'll take this guy with you now, instead."

He smiled against my mouth before he pulled away and lifted the tiny little wooden figurine in the space between our faces. "Most definitely," he said, and then carefully tucked it into the pocket of his shirt. Right over his heart.

I backed away when he tried to kiss me again, and reached for the paper I'd left at the foot of the bed.

"There's more," I told him, clutching it to my chest.

"More?" He repeated, and there was nothing but burning curiosity in his eyes as he stared at the back of the paper. "What is it?"

"Well, I'm not giving it to you," I warned him. I wanted to keep this particular little gift. "I just wanted to show you. I found it when I was cleaning out my desk the other day, and it just felt right that I needed to share it with you. You needed to know."

"Bella… what?" He was giving me that look again, that frustrated, curious look that told me he wanted nothing more than to be able to read my mind right now.

Smiling nervously again, I handed him my government syllabus, the one I had unintentionally drawn his face on in perfect detail before I'd ever even met him. He took it from me eagerly, his interest peaked, and he froze when he realized what he was looking at.

"I didn't know you could draw," he said after a long moment without taking his eyes off the paper.

"I can't," I told him. "Not really. Not like that. Doodles, and weird abstract things. Not portraits."

"When did you do this?" he asked. I could tell by the marveling quality to his voice that he suspected. It was a syllabus, after all.

"My first day at school here," I said. "Two hours before lunch."

Two hours before I ever actually saw him up close. Two hours before he'd so nearly killed me.

When he looked up at me, I knew he was as astounded as I was when I'd first realized what I'd done.

"I wanted you to know," I whispered. "I'm not sure what it all means, but from the moment I first saw you… it's like I haven't seen anything but you since."

There was a heat in his gaze, an intensity that I so rarely saw.

"It's the same way for me," he said, his silky voice deep and all but raw with emotion. It felt like we were both saying something else, but I wasn't ready yet to think of what it could be.

His mouth was hungry and insistent when he kissed me a second later. He leaned into me with his whole body so that I fell flat against the mattress with him on top of me, his lips on mine, his tongue in my mouth. His hands left my waist a second before I felt his fingers dig into the material of my shirt with such force I was sure he would tear right through it, but of course he didn't. My fingers threaded in his hair, and one of my legs came up and wrapped around one of his legs so that my foot was between his thighs, stroking the inside of his leg when I shifted restlessly, wanting… _something_. I wasn't sure what, but holy hell did I _want_ it.

A moan caught in my throat when my movements pressed us closer together and deepened the sensation. I would have been embarrassed if he didn't growl, low and deep and primal, in response.

"Oh, _God_ ," I gasped, tearing my mouth from his when the sound went straight to my core.

"What?" He froze above me, his eyes filled with horror and concern and I realized he thought he had hurt me, or maybe frightened me.

"No, nothing." I shook my head and tried to drag him back down to kiss me, but he didn't budge. "I'm fine. That was just… _really_ sexy."

He flashed me his little smirk, and then his lips were on me again, hard and cold and demanding. I used my leg to pull our lower halves together again and whimpered at the shock of pure pleasure that shot through me. My heart was pounding in my ears; I wondered how loud it was to him. He growled again, this time on purpose I thought, and my mind went blank as my body turned into pure, hot desire.

I couldn't say how long we stayed twined together like that, but it could have been minutes, or it could have been years and I would have never known the difference.

When finally he pulled away, joking that he was worried for the health of my poor, frail heart, I reached for the blanket from Esme where I'd dropped it at the foot of the bed. I draped it over him, tucked it under him on one side.

He laughed, bewildered. "What are you doing?"

"What I've been dreaming of doing since I opened this," I said, curling into his other side and tucking the blanket under me so we were like a soft, purple snuggly cocoon. I sighed and nuzzled my face into his neck.

The arm beneath me shifted and I felt his hand in my hair, stroking as he crossed his other arm over his body and laid his hand high on my waist. "How does it measure up to the dream?" he breathed in my ear.

"Mm. There's not cocoa and you're not reading to me, but it's pretty perfect," I whispered.

"I could fix both of those problems," he offered.

I gripped the front of his shirt with both hands before he even shifted. "Don't you dare move."

He didn't. Instead, he began to hum quietly. My lullaby. I smiled and shifted even closer to him.

"I should leave," he said a while later. It was obvious that he didn't really want to, and I definitely didn't want him to, either, but I also wasn't ready to ask him to spend the night in my bed with me. "You need to go to sleep."

I started to protest, but then I caught sight of the clock next to my computer. Was it really almost three o'clock in the morning? Edward kissed my forehead and gently extricated himself from the blanket before tucking it more securely around me.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I murmured as he approached the window.

He paused and looked back at me. In the pale moonlight, I saw him smile. "Of course. How could I survive a day without you?"

"Good. Me too," I whispered with a small, exhausted smile. My eyes drifted shut, and I heard the window slide open, then heard it close again. When I forced myself to look, he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for reading! From all of the comments and reviews I've gotten lately, I gather that you all are enjoying seeing Edward and Bella's relationship progress a bit more normally before shit gets real. It's so nice to hear that, because it's something I feel like the original series is really missing and I've enjoyed getting to write it for myself! This chapter was not originally part of my plan (and somehow it's the longest chapter yet), but I wanted to write another little slice of mostly-normal for them and I feel like we really missed out on a human-Bella / vampire-Cullens Christmas exchange in the books.
> 
> That said, this is sort of the lead in to their relationship moving from the cute getting to know each other phase and into the intense Edward and Bella that we all grew familiar with in the series. We only have eight chapters left, guys! Our climax is approaching! I only hope that I can do it all justice.
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> Next time:
> 
> _Chapter 17. Boundaries._
> 
> _"I don't need space from you," I told him._
> 
> _"We'll see how you feel in a week." Edward smiled. "When I haven't left your side."_
> 
> _I laughed when he kissed me, then pulled away to look at him shyly, tucking my hair behind my ears. "Does this mean you're staying the night?"_


	18. Chapter 17. Boundaries.

Our first day back after Christmas break came quickly, and before I knew it, I was getting out of the Volvo in the school parking lot with a small frown. It wasn’t that I didn’t like school – for the most part, it was pretty nice. It was just that I was used to getting to spend all day everyday with Edward for the past two weeks and I was pouting about the fact that I would only be able to spend lunch and Biology with him, and I wouldn’t even be able to really kiss him then. My attitude both amused and flattered him, though he tried unsuccessfully to hide both from me.

“Hey, Bella!” Alice came bounding up with Jasper trailing behind her. She hooked her arm through mine, grinning. “Did Edward tell you?”

“Hi, Alice. Hi, Jasper,” I said, craning to look over my shoulder at Edward; Alice’s stone grip held me firm in place. “Tell me what?”

“Hello, Bella,” Jasper said in his slow, southern drawl. He smiled but, as usual, kept his distance. He looked perfectly at ease and I was beginning to wonder whether his distance was due to his own doubt in his self-control, or Edward’s.

“Alice, can you not?” Edward frowned at his sister.

“Tell me what?” I said again.

“Edward’s going hunting this weekend, and we are going to have our first girls’ night!” Alice was aglow with excitement. “I’m going to give you a makeover… Oh, and your parents are going to love me, don’t worry.”

“Wait, you’re staying at my house?” I asked, frowning. After seeing the grandeur of the Cullens’ home, I couldn’t picture her in my tiny bedroom. It was strange enough to have Edward in my living room with my parents and the worn grey sofa. Though, it sure wasn’t strange having him in my bed on Christmas night. But that was completely different than having Alice in my room overnight.

“Yeah, your dad won’t go for you staying at our place yet. He won’t believe that it’s not really just an excuse to be with Edward,” Alice said, rolling her eyes. “We’ll have to wait at least a few more months for him to be okay with that.”

“Alice, I don’t…” I trailed off when Alice’s face went blank. I had only seen her like this twice, and once was before I even knew any of the Cullens, but I knew she was seeing the future.

Jasper stepped to her side and wrapped his arm around her, the closest he had ever gotten to me, and I knew it was his way of trying to normalize the moment for anyone curious enough to notice us. At my side, Edward was frowning slightly, staring at his sister and seeing what she was seeing.

“Don’t worry about it, Bella,” Alice said brightly, and the suddenness startled me, made me jump. I hadn’t even seen the clarity come back to her face. “It’s going to be fun. Come on, Jazz, the bell’s about to ring. We’ll see you later.”

And then Alice and Jasper were gone, walking away through the dense fog as if nothing had happened. When I looked at Edward, he looked almost completely at ease again, but I could see just the barest hint of worry in his eyes. Before I could ask him what Alice had seen, the bell rang as she had predicted, and Edward slid his arm behind my back, his hand resting light on my waist.

“Let’s get you to English,” he said.

As we walked across campus, he chatted affably, telling me how Emmett and Jasper had arm wrestled the night before and Esme had yelled at them for breaking her vase, the one she loved so much she’d moved it with them from city to city for decades. It was a good story, and it would have been nothing out of the ordinary were it not for the fact that I knew he was avoiding telling me about Alice’s vision. He kissed me briefly, said he would meet me after class, and left me frowning after him at the door.

He was waiting for me at the door when class ended, much to Eric’s chagrin. Eric stopped in the middle of telling me about the game his parents had gotten him for Christmas when he saw Edward leaning against the opposite wall, and waved goodbye to me with a dejected smile.

Edward laced our fingers together the moment I reached him, and began walking with me toward Building Six. “How was class?”

“It was fine,” I said. “We just sort of talked about what we’re going to be reading this semester. How was Calculus?”

“Same as ever,” he said with a small shrug. Before I could ask him why he was walking me to class – usually, he only walked me to the cafeteria, Biology, and gym – or what had happened with Alice in the parking lot, he changed the subject on his own. “I spent most of the time composing a new song in my mind.”

“What?” I said, caught off guard. He was being _so weird_ today.

“On the piano, of course,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “It’s going to be a livelier number than any of the originals you’ve heard from me before.”

“Is that so?” I said, frowning at him. He wasn’t fooling me. I knew he was only trying to distract me.

“Don’t you want to know the inspiration for it?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow at me.

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” I said loftily. He knew I was on to him, but he didn’t seem bothered by the knowledge.

“Christmas.” He smirked when I looked at him blankly, and then led me out of the crowd of students heading to class, pressed me up against the wall, and leaned in close so that his breath was in my ear, ruffling my hair as he spoke. “Specifically, our time together on Christmas night.”

His words and the desirous tone of his voice made my breathing hitch, my heart race, and it brought a pang of yearning to my belly. He was talking about our most intense make out session yet, and he was doing it surrounded by my peers. I didn’t care. When he lifted his head and then brought his lips down on mine hungrily, my hands buried in his hair and I clutched myself to him. After a long, hearty kiss, he pulled away with a smile.

“I hope Government is enjoyable.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek and turned and walked away.

I suddenly realized that the wall he had pressed me up against was right next to the door to my next class. When I turned to walk inside, I saw Mike standing there watching me.

“Had a good Christmas?” he asked, and there was some other meaning to his question, but I couldn’t focus enough on him to figure it out.

“Yeah, it was great,” I said, and walked to my seat. Mike followed me, and it looked like he wanted to say something else, but the bell rang and he had to go to his seat. It was for the best, really, because there was no way I was going to be able to carry on a conversation with him while trying to figure out what Edward was doing.

Mike tried to catch me after Government but, as I expected now, Edward was standing next to the door right where he had cornered me with that searing kiss an hour before.

“See you at lunch, Bella,” Mike mumbled, and walked away.

I meant to start talking to him before he could do or say something distracting, but he chuckled and shook his head as he threaded his fingers through mine.

“Newton thinks I’ve taken your virtue,” he whispered in my ear.

“What!”

“He saw us kissing earlier,” Edward explained, “and heard me mention Christmas night. He’s jumped to his own conclusion of what it meant.”

When he dropped me off in front of my Trigonometry class, my mind was still reeling. I couldn’t even pretend to pay attention to Jessica as she rambled on about the gift Mike had gotten her for Christmas. He was there after class again, and I wondered how he was managing to get from his classes across campus to mine in time without blowing his cover.

He walked Jessica and me to Spanish and it seemed like, for the first time ever, he was grateful for Jessica’s tendency to ramble. He had the same soft, easy smile on his face when he swung by to walk us to lunch. I spent most of the lunch hour staring at him, trying to catch his attention, but he purposely kept close by Jessica and the rest of the humans, so I wasn’t able to ask him any meaningful questions.

I thought Biology would be my greatest opportunity because that was where we did most of our secretive talking anyway, but Mr. Banner wheeled a TV into the room on a large, rickety stand and put on a video. I probably could have managed to force some information out of him since we were in the back of the room and no one would see us with our heads together whispering, but as soon as the lights were out that same electric force shot between us and I had to spend the whole period focusing on not jumping my boyfriend. I wondered if it was ever like that for other couples. Did Jessica and Mike ever feel this nearly irresistible urge to tear into each other when the lights went out for a movie? Or would they have been perfectly able to hold a whispered conversation?

The feeling lingered long enough after the bell rang that Edward didn’t even have to try to distract me as we walked to the gym; I could barely string two words together, let alone an entire interrogation. When we stopped in front of the gym, he gave me another one of those hot, hungry kisses he would never have dared give me in public as recently as a few weeks ago. It was just my luck that, once again, Mike Newton saw us. I had to walk into the gym and try to avoid playing volleyball with him with the knowledge that he was convinced Edward and I had had sex.

When I walked out of the gym, Edward wasn’t there. I stopped in my tracks and frowned when instead I saw Emmett leaning one broad shoulder against the wall.

“Hey, Bella,” he said with a friendly little wave.

“Hey, Emmett,” I said. I stopped in front of him, waved an awkward goodbye to Mike and Jessica, and then frowned at him. “Where’s Edward?”

“He left early,” he told me. “Ditched Spanish. He had something to do.”

“What?” I was with him literally an hour ago. Minutes before he left, apparently. He hadn’t said a word to me.

“Yeah, I’m not sure what’s going on. He was being really weird,” Emmett said with a shrug. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

“Emmett,” I said as he led me out into the parking lot where I saw his Jeep parked in the very back of the lot. “Do you really not know what’s going on with him, or are you just saying that because he asked you to?”

“I really don’t know,” he said, looking me in the eye. I believed him. “But, I’ll be honest with you, Bella. If I did know and he asked me to lie to you, I would. He’s my brother.”

“He told me you think of me as a sister,” I grumbled.

“True, but he’s been my brother longer.” Emmett laughed and then his cold, heavy arm was around my shoulders. People stared as we walked past, but I pretended not to notice.

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked when he opened the front passenger door for me and started the car as soon as I was buckled in.

“They _all_ left early,” Emmett said.

I stared at him, and then crossed my arms over my chest and settled in for the ride home. They all left school early? There was a reason they left Emmett, the strongest and most intimidating of them all, to look after me. Alice saw _something_ this morning. Something _big._ Something _bad_. Something that freaked Edward out enough that he wouldn’t let me out of his sight any longer than he absolutely had to, and then ditched school early and left Emmett to drive me home so that he could, what? Have a conference with the rest of the family? Whatever was going on, I was going to get my answers.

When he pulled up to the curb outside my house, I turned in my seat to look at him. Emmett mirrored my position, and I wondered if I looked as annoyed as I felt, or if he thought I looked like a silly little thing trying to be stern with him.

“Tell him I’m on to him. Tell him I’m _angry_ with him.” I opened the door and stepped out. “Tell him I’ll see him later.”

I slammed the door and stalked up the walkway and into the house. I was so annoyed that I stormed right past Renee when she tried to greet me, up the stairs, and into my bedroom. Another door slam. I threw myself onto the edge of my bed and faced the window. And waited.

He showed up several hours later, just as it was getting truly dark outside, hanging there with just his hands holding him up pressed on either side of the window sill. I rushed to the window and threw it open – I knew he was perfectly capable of getting inside on his own, but the few times he had come to my window while I was actually in my room he’d just waited for me to open it for him.

“What’s going on, Edward?” I demanded as soon as he was standing in front of me.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, reaching for me and pulling me into his arms. “I just wanted to see you.”

“What did Alice see this morning? What has you so worried?” I said. I was upset with him for being so secretive, but I couldn’t stop myself from melting into his arms nonetheless.

“Bella, it’s nothing to worry about.” He sighed when I pulled back to look at him, and I saw him frown and shake his head.

When he leaned in to kiss me, I backed away, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

“Don’t you dare do this,” I warned. “Don’t start hiding things that are bothering you because you think I’ll be upset, or frightened, or safer if I don’t know. Whatever happened or is going to happen has everyone worried. So tell me.”

Edward paced away from me with a grimace, one hand running through his hair. “Bella, it doesn’t concern you. Really, there’s no reason…”

“If it concerns you, then it concerns me,” I told him, sitting on the edge of my bed again and staring up at him. “Remember our agreement? You aren’t in control in this relationship. We’re equals here.”

He rolled his eyes and huffed an aggravated sigh as he leaned against the wall near my door.

“Alice has been seeing a trio of vampires circling the area,” he finally said after a long beat of stubborn silence. “They don’t seem to have any particular plans; her visions keep changing, like they’re deciding as they go. Nomads. A woman and two men.”

“Let me guess, they’re not the type that respects human life?” I said. In answer, he inclined his head. No, these nomads were not like his family.

“She doesn’t think they’re going to come here,” he said, crossing the room to sit next to me on the bed. “In most cases, she sees them leaving the area without ever coming to Forks, without ever even knowing we’re here.”

I nodded and let him take my hand in his. “What about the other options?”

“Only a handful of times has she seen them actually in Forks, and only a couple of those times has she seen them make contact. In those cases, it doesn’t end peacefully,” Edward admitted.

“What happens?”

“Bella, you know her visions can’t be taken as fact.”

“That isn’t what I asked you,” I said.

“There’s an altercation,” Edward said with a resigned look in my direction. “And I end up killing the female.”

A chill ran down my spine. I knew he could be dangerous and powerful when he wanted to be, but I couldn’t picture it. Not really. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“But it doesn’t end there,” I said, watching closely for his reaction. “What happens next?”

“One of the males, he’s her mate, and he’s a very powerful tracker and he makes it his mission to get his revenge,” Edward said. He looked at me through somber, dark eyes. “He decides that the best way to achieve his goal is to go after _my_ mate.”

I had never heard any of the Cullens refer to me as Edward’s mate, didn’t even know if they thought of themselves as mated, or just married, but there was no denying the fact that if Edward had a mate, it was me.

“He kills me,” I said, and it sounded odd even to my own ears. Why would such a statement be delivered so matter-of-factly?

“No, Bella, that’s not going to happen,” Edward said steadfastly. He tilted my chin so that I could see the sincerity in them, the determination. “Alice hasn’t seen it, and if she did, I would change it.”

“My scent is all over you, and your scent is all over me,” I said. “Jasper said it just the other day. We smell like each other. If he’s a powerful tracker, then it wouldn’t be particularly difficult for him to find me, right?”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Edward admitted. “But I won’t let it come to that.”

“How can you stop it? If that’s what Alice has seen?”

“That has only been the outcome in two of her visions,” he said. “All of the others have ended without your involvement. We’ve decided we’re going to meet them outside of Forks and let things play out.”

“Let things play out?” I repeated, anxiously chewing on my bottom lip. Did that mean what I thought it meant? Were the Cullens going to bring the fight to the nomads? And were they doing it to protect me? I didn’t know if I could handle it if anything happened to any of them.

“Bella, I don’t want you to worry about any of this,” Edward said softly. “But I do ask you to be a little… lenient… with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to want to let you out of my sight,” he whispered.

“You have to hunt, Edward,” I pointed out, and reached up to touch my fingers gently to the dark circles under his eyes. “And soon.”

“I’m okay for a while yet,” he said, catching my hand and drawing it down to his lips. “Alice can stay with you when I do need to go.”

I shook my head sadly. “Edward, I don’t think…”

“Please, Bella,” he murmured against the inside of my wrist. “Nothing is going to happen to you, but all the same, once it’s dealt with it will be much easier for me to give you your space.”

“I don’t need space from you,” I told him.

“We’ll see how you feel in a week.” Edward smiled. “When I haven’t left your side.”

I laughed when he kissed me, then pulled away to look at him shyly, tucking my hair behind my ears. “Does this mean you’re staying the night?”

“I can ask Alice, if my being here makes you uncomfortable,” he promised.

“No, that’s not… I’m not uncomfortable,” I said, and stood up. He watched curiously as I signaled for him to stay put. “I need a minute. To be human.”

“Of course,” he said with a small smile. “I’ll wait.”

I gathered a change of clothes and paused, turning back with a hand on the doorknob. “It might be more than a minute. You don’t have to…”

“I’ll wait,” he said again, and I was reminded of Christmas night.

I nodded, and then darted out the door, closing it quickly and quietly behind me. I ran to the bathroom – the single, small shared bathroom – and turned on the shower. While I waited for the water to heat up I brushed my teeth. I bathed quickly and debated whether or not to shave my legs.

He’d never touched my bare legs before. He’d never had the opportunity. I wondered if he would want to tonight. We would be alone in my bedroom all night, and the one other time we’d been alone in my bedroom for a few hours at night, it had gotten pretty intense for a minute. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, and if it was at all possible, I wanted them smooth. I shaved carefully, taking my time. I didn’t want to nick my skin and destroy any and all possibility of Edward touching me.

He was lying on my bed, propped up on my pillows reading my worn copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ when I came back. I dumped my day clothes in the hamper and turned to see him sitting up, the book closed and placed carefully back on my nightstand where he had gotten it.

“Just one more minute,” I implored, and left the room again.

I ran down the stairs, making myself slow down as I reached the bottom so my parents didn’t notice my excitement. They were in the living room watching TV when I passed by on my way to the kitchen. When I walked back in with a glass of water, they hadn’t moved.

“Good night,” I said.

“Going to bed already?” Charlie asked, looking up from the TV to study me: pajamas, wet hair.

“Yeah, I have a big English test tomorrow. I’m just going to read over my notes and go to bed.” It wasn’t a total lie. I did have an English test and I was going to be in my bed. I just didn’t plan to do any studying.

“Okay, well, sleep tight,” Renee said, smiling as I bent to kiss the side of her head.

I headed back upstairs, starting slow at the bottom, and running up the rest of the way to my room. He hadn’t moved this time, and was looking at me with an amused smile as I stood in the middle of my room staring at him. What was I supposed to do now?

“Nice pajamas,” he said.

I looked down at the long, baggy tie-dye T-shirt I slept in. It was so big it fit me almost like a dress.

“Madison and I tie-dyed shirts last year,” I told him. “We, um, we thought it would be cute to buy them oversized. You know… all those girls wearing huge shirts and small shorts? Only we went a bit too large and it wasn’t cute after all.”

“On the contrary, you look very cute,” Edward said.

He held his arms out to me and I walked slowly toward him. When he could reach me, he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me close to stand between his legs, and rested his head on my chest. Listening to my heart.

“You smell so delightful,” he whispered.

“In a good way or a bad way?” I asked.

“Both. Always just a little bit of both,” he said, lifting his head to smile at me.

“Is my blood particularly enticing right now?” I asked, threading my fingers through his soft hair.

“When is it ever not?” he wondered aloud.

But he was still smiling, and his eyes were very serene, so I knew he wasn’t struggling with his nature. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and leaned down to kiss him.

I kissed him deeply, as I was so often wont to do. The first time I had kissed him this way, had let our tongues touch and taste and explore each other, he had been very cautious. I wasn’t sure if it was because of his constant hunger for my blood, or his early twentieth-century upbringing, but he had quickly gotten past it and now met me with equal fervor.

When I leaned fully into him, pressed down on his shoulders, he let me guide him backwards down to the mattress, me straddling his waist. My sleep shirt bunched up at the hem, revealing my bare thighs to his wandering fingers. He rolled us over, the move so quick and so fluid that I barely knew he had moved until it was my back pressed to the mattress with him hovering carefully over me.

My fingers played with the bottom of his simple blue T-shirt, just barely brushing at the skin of his waist as our mouths continued to move together.

“Stop, Bella,” Edward said quietly and I froze immediately. It went without saying that whenever Edward warned me to stop something, I did so without questioning him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, my hands still frozen on his firm, cool waist.

“I need a minute,” he said, and rolled off of me, but he didn’t go far. I turned my head to look at him lying on his back right next to me, and he didn’t _look_ like a hungry vampire – his eyes were maybe a bit darker than they were ten minutes ago, but I had seen them and kissed him with no issue when they were much darker.

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked hesitantly. His head cocked to the side in silent wonder. “I mean, if I did, I should know… so that I don’t do anything to make it more difficult in the future.”

Realization dawned in his eyes, and a sardonic smile played on his lips. “Bella, I’m not struggling not to _kill_ you,” he said.

“Then why…” I stopped and bit my lip as I understood what he meant. “Oh.”

“I may be 119 years old, but I’m also still a seventeen year-old boy,” he said with a small, unashamed shrug.

Before I could stop myself, my gaze flicked down toward his waist. Immediately, I looked away, my face heating. “I’m sorry,” I said in a very small voice because he obviously knew what I was looking at.

“It’s okay, Bella,” he said, and there was laughter in his voice. “I get curious as well.”

To illustrate his point, he shifted and I felt his hands creeping up my thighs. He stopped well below my panties, but his meaning was clear. I wasn’t as embarrassed, but it did nothing to cool my cheeks.

“I don’t mind,” I told him. “I don’t mind that you’re a teenage boy; I like it because I happen to be a teenage girl.”

I rolled to face him, climbed on top of him again. “I wouldn’t mind satisfying some of our curiosity, either.”

He looked doubtful, but he kissed me when I brought my lips back to his. When my hands made their way back to the hem of his shirt, though, he caught them lightly in his and drew back. “Bella.”

“You don’t… want me?” I asked, frowning. I had never dated before him, but I knew well enough that he _should_ be just as eager as I was… more, even, given the length of time he’d been chaste. I rolled back off of him and sat cross-legged next to him. I couldn’t quite meet his gaze.

“Of course I do. I’ve just told you that I do,” Edward said. He sat up, too, and drew my chin up with gentle fingers. “Look at me. You have to remember… where I’m from.”

“Chicago,” I said, but I knew he meant _when_. “1901.”

“I was raised with a certain set of morals, Bella. Rules of engagement, if you will, that were instilled in me from a young age,” he said. “Not the least important of which was that sex was reserved for marriage.”

“The rules have changed, Edward,” I reminded him, but I could feel my heart sinking. _Marriage_?

“I know they have,” he said with a small frown. He took my hands in his, held them in my lap. “I have so little left of my life before. Piano. Some of my mother’s jewelry I salvaged from my family home.” He touched the locket I wore around my neck everyday now. “I want this one more thing.”

“I get it,” I said after a moment with a resigned sigh. It looked like I would be holding onto my virginity for a while longer.

“Are you upset with me?” Edward asked.

“No,” I told him, and I wasn’t. I was maybe disappointed, but not in him, just in the circumstances.

He seemed to accept that readily enough, but he also seemed to realize that I needed to think.

“Do you want me to leave?” he offered.

“I thought you were going to be overbearing and not let me out of your sight until those other vampires pass through?” I said.

“I’ll stay in the woods outside your house,” he told me.

“That’s stupid.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want you to leave, anyway.”

So I lay down on my back and felt the mattress shift as he did the same. He pulled the soft purple blanket from Esme up around us both. We were silent for a long time, me wondering if there was any way to convince him to change his mind, and I had no idea what he was thinking.

“Bella, I love you,” he said when I turned my head to look at him. I wasn’t expecting him to already be watching me, but he was probably wishing he could hear my thoughts if he stared hard enough. I had never been so relieved that he couldn’t. “If it’s to happen, it will be with you.”

I stared at him, dumbstruck. Had he really just told me he loved me so casually _and_ implied that he would _marry me_? Because that’s what sex was to him, a symbol of not only love, but marital love.

“But not until we’re married,” I said, trying not to let the thought of it terrify me so much.

“The thought frightens you,” Edward said, studying me closely. “Why?”

“Marriage?” I said, _and love,_ I didn’t. I sighed when he nodded. “Because I’m seventeen; isn’t it supposed to scare me?”

“You’re not completely against the idea of becoming a vampire and being with me for all eternity, but the thought of marrying me first frightens you.” Well, when he said it like that, it did sound foolish.

For a long, quiet moment, I considered _why_ , and focused on his long fingers threaded though mine. I rolled onto my side and felt him shift, his fingers sliding out of mine so he could wrap me in his arms and hold me close to his body.

“I guess it’s just that my parents got married really young,” I mumbled against his collarbone. I felt his fingers trailing slowly up the length of my back into my now mostly dry hair. “And I saw how miserable they both were for a long time because of it.”

“I was under the impression that their misery was caused by their separation,” Edward said slowly. “They’re both very happy now that they’re back together.”

I didn’t say anything. What was there to say? He was right, after all. I was so young when my mom took me and left that I didn’t even remember their first attempt at marriage. All I could remember was both of them being sad and lonely after. It wasn’t like that anymore; they were both happy for the first time in as long as I could remember.

“Edward.” I paused and let his name hang between us for a beat of silence. He just watched me expectantly. “I love you too, you know.”

He smiled at me, and kissed my brow tenderly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed!!!   
> I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has let me know how much they're enjoying this story! You honestly don't know how much I appreciate every comment, regardless of how short or how long! You guys are truly the best. 
> 
> Next chapter:   
> _Chapter 18. Girls’ Night.  
>  I was beginning to wonder if this had something to do with the whole vampire mate thing. Was there no separating us now that we had fallen in love and admitted to it, had committed ourselves to each other? Was loving a vampire and being loved by one different than loving a human? He was a supernatural being, after all; it didn’t seem totally outside the realm of possibility that there was something supernatural binding us now. _


	19. Chapter 18. Girls' Night.

It was Friday afternoon, the day of my first official girls' night with Alice, and I had been home from school for a few hours. Edward had left about half an hour ago to pick up Alice and bring her back here. It was the most time I had had to myself in the five days since Edward had told me about the nomads in the area, and I was taking the opportunity to call Madison. Since we were both now in serious relationships it wasn't easy to find time when we were both free to talk, but Conner was hanging out with his family so it was a good time for me to catch her up as much as I could on everything that was going on.

"Wait, you're telling me that your super hot boyfriend refuses to have sex with you?" Madison laughed in disbelief over the phone. "That's rough, Bells."

"He's not _refusing_ ," I hissed, looking over my shoulder. I never knew when Edward would just show up – since he'd started staying here every night, I'd started leaving my window open all the time so he could just come and go as he liked. It was closed now because I knew he would show up at the front door with Alice, but I was still paranoid. "He's just got morals."

"Yeah, morals that say no sex for Bella," Madison sang, her tone completely teasing. "No, really, are you okay with this?"

"Yeah, I mean Edward's great. I… I love him." It was still weird for me to say it out loud, to be seventeen and _in_ _love_ , but I wasn't as uncomfortable with it as I was a few nights ago. "It's enough to just be with him for now."

"Bells, did you just drop the L-word?" Madison said, and I could only imagine her shocked expression. "Holy shit. I don't even know if I love Conner yet! Does Edward know? Did you tell him? Does he feel the same way?"

"Um, yes to all," I said with a chuckle, tucking my hair behind my free ear and bending my knees to cross my legs in front of me. "He actually said it first. You know, after he told me that he was saving himself for marriage and that if it was going to happen it would be with me."

"Oh God, Bella, you're going to end up married at eighteen, aren't you?" Madison groaned. "You are! You're going to be so desperate for him that you're going to marry him just to get in bed with him."

"No, I'm not," I said, although, really… who knew? Alice, probably. "And if I do end up marrying him really young, that won't be the only reason."

"No, of course not. It'll be because you _love him_ ," Madison said and though it wasn't a FaceTime call, I _heard_ her roll her eyes. "Bella, you realize you're both seventeen, right? That might change in a few years."

"Sure, maybe," I said, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't. I was already having difficulty remembering a time before Edward was so important to me and it had only been a few months. I certainly couldn't imagine not being with him, not loving him anymore.

I was beginning to wonder if this had something to do with the whole vampire mate thing. Was there no separating us now that we had fallen in love and admitted to it, had committed ourselves to each other? Was loving a vampire and being loved by one different than loving a human? He was a supernatural being, after all; it didn't seem totally outside the realm of possibility that there was something supernatural binding us now.

"Look, at least remind him that there are other things," Madison said. She must have sensed my confusion when I didn't answer because she sighed and elaborated. "Other things besides sex. If he won't give you the _d_ , you can still do _other things_."

"Oh," I said, frowning. I had actually forgotten that sex wasn't the only option. There were plenty of steps between kissing and having sex. Suddenly an image of him replacing my probing fingers at night with his own came unbidden to my mind. I wondered what it would feel like if he used his mouth. I felt the blood rush to my face and I cleared my throat. "Right. You're right."

"I _know_ ," Madison said, laughing. "I mean, really, there is also the possibility of you changing his mind. He _is_ seventeen; remember? It wouldn't be too difficult."

She was also probably right about that. Edward had a strong will, but he seemed to have a weak spot when it came to me The only thing was, I had no interest in taking advantage of him like that. It was important to him that he hold on to as many things as he could from his own time, so it was also important to me.

"I'm not going to do that, Madison," I told her. "It's not right."

"You're right, you're right. I was just pointing out all of your options," she said. "So… how are you going to bring up third base to him?"

"I don't know." I groaned, just imagining how awkward that conversation might be, how I might stumble over the words. "Organically?"

"Wait until you're making out all hot and heavy and then spring it on him. Classic," Madison said, and I could hear amused approval in her voice. "He won't have the willpower to resist. You evil genius."

I wasn't so sure about that. There was a lot of willpower there. I realized I would have to plan out what I would say to him, what I would do.

"Thanks," I muttered anyway, and jumped up to rush to the window when I heard a car in the driveway. I smiled when I saw the silver Volvo parked behind Charlie's police car. "I gotta go, Mads. Edward and his sister just got here. Their whole family is going camping tonight, but Alice doesn't want to go so she's spending the night here."

At least, that was the story we had told Renee and Charlie. Really, just Edward and Jasper were going hunting and Alice was staying to both keep me company and to watch over me since we still weren't sure exactly when the three nomadic vampires were going to pass through. According to Edward, Emmett had very briefly suggested that _he_ could keep me company before Alice had swiftly cut him off with both logic – my parents were _not_ going to go for that – and threats. Apparently, Emmett had had his bonding moments and it was Alice's turn.

"Sounds fun," Madison said.

"Yeah, tons," I told her, not bothering to hide my sarcasm. I knew Edward and Alice could hear me from the car. "She keeps talking about giving me a makeover and playing dress up like I'm her own personal life-size Barbie doll."

"Barbie Bella," Madison laughed.

I watched them get out of the car, Alice carrying a comically large overnight bag, and make their way to the house. She was scowling, stomping up the walkway, and Edward was smirking as he followed behind her.

"I'll talk to you later." I sighed, and then threw my phone onto my bed and hurried down the stairs.

Charlie was already opening the door by the time I was halfway down.

"Hi, Alice," Charlie said, and he sounded as warm and welcoming as I'd ever heard him. Then his tone shifted into more of a casual acceptance. "Edward."

"Hello, Charlie. I'm just dropping off my sister." He was still smirking, I could hear it in his voice. Whatever Alice and Charlie were thinking was really putting him in a good mood. "Hi, Bella."

"Hi," I said, breathless as I skidded into the foyer.

"Come on, Alice." Next to me, Charlie rolled his eyes and reached to take Alice's bag from her. "Let's get you settled in."

Edward folded me into his arms the second Charlie and Alice started up the stairs. "I'm going to miss you," he whispered into my hair.

" _I'm_ the one who has to play dress up with Alice," I pointed out, my fingers curling into the fabric on either side of his waist. "I'm going to miss you too."

I would miss what had by now become our nightly makeout session – he didn't stop me as quickly as he had that first time he'd stayed all night with me, but we also hadn't let it get as far as it had on Christmas night. But more than that, I would just miss him. I would miss talking to him. No matter the topic, Edward was always completely enthralled by anything I ever had to say. I would miss simply being together in silence. For as much as Edward and I wanted to know everything about each other and did our best to sate our curiosity, we also had discovered a mutual enjoyment of sitting silently together with a book each. I would miss his cool, comforting presence next to me when I drifted off to sleep and when I woke in the morning. I would just miss him.

"I don't have to go," he murmured.

He sounded very tempted to ditch Jasper and stay by my side. I knew that part of his reluctance to leave me, especially now when he was so hungry, was due to my scent, and another part was that protective nature that had always been in him but was tantamount now that there were other vampires headed our way. I suspected, however, that he would also just miss me, our conversations, and the silence that my mind provided him.

I pulled back just far enough to crane my neck up to look into his face. I lifted one hand and touched my fingers lightly under his dark eyes. " _Yes_ , you do."

He sighed and nodded. "Yes, I do."

He lowered his head and kissed me, drawing it out until it brought a pang to my stomach. I wanted nothing more than to drag him up to my room and never stop kissing him. He pulled away far too soon and took a step back.

"I'll be back tomorrow around noon to pick you up," he said, looking over my shoulder. I turned around to see Charlie and Alice coming back down the stairs, Renee behind them.

"Leaving so soon, Edward?" Renee said.

"Oh, the rest of our family is waiting on me," Edward lied so smoothly I would have believed him if I didn't know he and Jasper were only going to the national park to hunt, and that they didn't have to leave immediately to make it there.

"See you then," Alice said, stopping at the foot of the stairs.

"I hope you have a good time," Renee said, coming to stand near us.

"Yeah, have fun, Edward," Charlie said half-heartedly. He did truly like Edward, but he had his moments where he couldn't quite hide the fact that he wished I didn't have a boyfriend at all, at least not one that I was so serious about.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

"Have fun," he said, raising his eyebrows at me.

"You, too," I said. Really, he would probably end up having more fun than me. Alice was great, but her definition of fun was vastly different than mine.

He left then, without saying he loved me. It was probably better that way, really; Charlie would probably do the choking-on-a-whole-egg thing all over again. Still, ever since he had told me that first time, I couldn't get enough of hearing it. It was saying it back that was still a bit challenging.

"So, what do you girls have planned for tonight?" Renee asked as Edward drove off.

"Barbie Bella," I muttered, eyeing Alice reproachfully – she had talked about it nonstop at lunch today. "Such fun."

Charlie gave me a sympathetic look, but Renee, traitor that she was, looked somewhat envious like she wanted to dress me up, too.

"It _is_ going to be fun, Bella," Alice pouted, adding a little foot stomp that produced an impressive _thump_ on the carpeted floor; Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"I know, Alice," I lied; something about tiny adorable Alice Cullen and the way she stuck that perfect bottom lip out just so made me feel guilty. I _knew_ she was just playing me, but that didn't stop me from trying to placate her. "I'm sorry. I was just giving you a hard time."

"Thank you for apologizing," Alice said sagely. I wondered if the Cullens were so used to Alice that they stopped apologizing to her or if they didn't even bother to resist her at all anymore.

"You girls have fun," Charlie said as Alice grabbed my wrist and began to tow me up the stairs. Scowling over my shoulder at my very amused parents, I would have tripped if Alice didn't warn me to watch where I was going.

She beamed again as soon as we made it to my room. "Well, should we start now?"

"Start what?" I asked warily. I crossed to my bed and heaved at her bag, felt the enormous weight of it, and dropped it to the floor with a thud. "Geez, Alice, what did you bring?"

"You know, just clothes and supplies," she said, lifting the bag with one hand easily and dropping it back onto my bed next to me.

She pulled a small black dress out. Even before she laid it out on the bed, I could tell it was far too long for her minuscule frame. "Clothes for you?" I asked, frowning.

"No," she said simply, and threw a swath of gauzy dark blue fabric at me. "Here, try this on."

"What is it?" I asked, fumbling to catch it. Knowing Alice, and having seen the Cullens' house and everything in it, and the gifts they had exchanged at Christmas, I thought the dress was probably worth more than my truck.

"A dress." Alice rolled her eyes.

"I can see that." I scowled at the offensive material and the offending vampire who had brought it. "I meant what is it for?"

"This _beautiful_ gown," Alice said, taking the now crinkled ball of gauze from me and unrolling it with a flourish to reveal a beautiful, flowy, long midnight blue dress, "is your prom dress."

"Prom?" I balked, shaking my head enthusiastically. "I am not going to prom."

Alice's eyes went blank momentarily, and then she grinned, self-satisfied, and thrust the dress back into my hands. "Yep, still going."

"No, Alice, I'm not," I insisted. "I can't dance. I'll break my leg. I'll break my neck. I'll die."

"Edward would never let any of that happen," Alice said. "And he _can_ dance."

"I'm sure he can," I said, reminded of when I'd had almost the exact same conversation with Jessica about a different dance. "Doesn't change the fact that I will fall and break my face and probably take down three other people in the process."

"Again, Edward wouldn't let that happen," she said. I knew she was right; Edward had a tendency to right me whenever I tripped. "It's all in the leading. Now, are you going to undress yourself or do I need to do it for you?"

I had imagined a vampire saying something similar to me before, but not _this_ vampire. I sighed, and pulled my shirt over my head. Alice Cullen looked harmless, but I knew better than any other human that her looks were very deceiving.

I tried not to be self-conscious as I tripped out of my jeans and stood in front of her in my bra and underwear. She had probably already seen the entire moment playing out anyway, I told myself. I struggled with the dress, trying to find the neck, or the bottom, or a zipper, or whatever way I was supposed to put it on. Alice was suddenly there, deft fingers finding a delicate zipper inlaid so well in the fabric that it was practically invisible.

She threw the material over my head, shimmying it down my body like I was a child or an invalid, and then she circled behind me and I felt the zipper moving up my spine, the fabric snug – not tight, but just right – around me.

"I knew it," Alice said with a satisfied smile as she walked back around to study me. "It's perfect."

"If you knew it, then why did I have to try it on?" I grumbled. Alice ignored me.

"Renee!" she called, and I assumed she heard footsteps in the hallway through the closed door.

"Did you need something, girls?" Renee asked, opening the door to peek in. When she spotted me, she gasped. "Oh! How pretty!"

"It's her prom dress," Alice announced giddily.

"You and Edward are going to prom?" Renee asked, staring at me in disbelief. I had only been to one dance in my entire life, and I'd come home from it with a sprained ankle. Dylan, who was the only one brave enough to take me, had gone home with a bloody nose. I still wasn't sure how I had managed that one.

"That's what Alice tells me, but I'm unconvinced," I said, trying for a severe look. Alice didn't even blink.

"Edward looks very handsome in a suit," Alice said lightly.

Renee laughed and I glared at both of them.

"Of course he does," I said. But damn right I wanted to see him in one. I wondered if he would just wear one to amuse me one day, if I asked, or if he would take Alice's side on this prom issue. It was likely he wanted to see me all dressed up, too.

"How are you going to do her hair?" Renee asked Alice, as if I had no say in the matter. I realized it was more accurate than I cared to admit.

"I'm curling it," Alice said, and there was suddenly a menacing metal tube in her hand. She saw the alarm on my face and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Bella, it's just a curling wand."

"It's dangerous," I said darkly. Any hot, electric thing was a danger to me.

"Only if you annoy me," Alice warned, taking a small section of my hair and getting to work.

Renee sat on my bed to watch, clearly pleased that Alice was including her. It made me feel guilty as ever that the reality of my life now was that I couldn't openly share much with my mother. I strongly suspected Alice knew how I felt and was giving us this moment, just another of her gifts to me.

"Are you and Jasper going to prom?" I asked. I couldn't really imagine Jasper willingly attending a school dance where he would be crammed into the gym with hundreds of sweaty teen humans with hot blood roaring through their veins, probably most of them projecting lust at him.

"Of course," Alice said. "It's a rite of passage, Bella."

"Is Jasper your boyfriend?" Renee asked, prompting Alice to launch into a passionate diatribe about her love for Jasper. It was good, really, because it afforded me time to think about what she had said.

Prom _was_ a rite of passage, wasn't it? It was an important event for most teens. Just like things like graduation and marriage. I wondered if I would regret not having those experiences if I decided to change, if I lived an eternity likely reliving high school and college over and over again. Would it be better for me to remember doing them as a normal human? Or would it be better if I didn't know anything different?

Edward would probably enjoy recalling my human experiences when I relived these moments again as a vampire. If I became one – and why wouldn't I? I loved Edward, and he loved me. I couldn't imagine that love going away. I couldn't imagine going any length of time without him, really – would I be depriving more than just myself of these things by not experiencing them now?

"Bella?" Renee said, and I blinked to find that Alice had turned me back around to face the mirror in the corner of my room, near the window Edward always snuck through. "What do you think?"

"Wow," was all I could say. I looked beautiful. I wasn't sure what kind of magic Alice had worked, but my hair fell in soft, loose curls that framed my face beautifully. Suddenly, I wanted Edward to see me like this. The way the dress hugged my body in gauzy layers accentuated curves I didn't even know I had.

"I'm going to do your makeup too, of course," Alice said. "Nothing too drastic. Eyeliner, a little shadow. You have such nice skin, and beautiful features. I wouldn't want to cover them up."

"Wow," I repeated. "Alice…"

"I know," she said, hugging me from behind. "Edward is going to love it, too."

"You do look beautiful," Renee said, and I could see her staring at me in our reflection, her face overcome with emotion.

There was a light knock on the doorframe. We all turned to see Charlie standing there, looking awkward.

"I was, uh, wondering if you wanted me to order pizza," he said, shifting to lean on the doorframe. "But if you girls have other plans…"

"No." I laughed. Did he really think I was going out in Forks wearing a formal gown?

"This is Bella's prom dress, Charlie," Renee said. "Edward is taking her."

"Ah," Charlie said, and rubbed the back of his neck. "When is the prom?"

"End of the school year," I said.

"May 13," Alice said promptly.

"Edward asked you that far in advance? And you already got a dress picked out?" Charlie said, and I didn't need to be able to read his mind to know that he was thinking there was a chance we wouldn't make it that far. High school romances weren't built to last. Only, Edward wasn't a normal high schooler. And, I guessed, in some ways, neither was I.

"He hasn't asked, and Alice picked it out," I said.

"Does he need to ask you?" Alice said, looking at me like I was crazy. "Jasper hasn't asked me on a date in forever and yet, we keep going on dates."

I shot her a sidelong glance. I wasn't sure what Alice's definition of a date was, but I didn't think she and Jasper were driving to Port Angeles to see a movie every weekend like my human friends. Maybe Alice and Jasper considered hunting together to be a date, kind of like how I kept going hiking with Edward – I was fond of our meadow, of kissing him and talking to him and learning as much as I could about him. Still, Edward usually _asked_ me to go with him.

"They should still probably make a plan," Renee said.

"Don't worry. It'll happen," Alice said, eyes blank again. "Tomorrow."

I caught the perplexed look Charlie and Renee shared.

"Anyway," I said quickly, drawing their attention. "Pizza sounds great."

"Great. I'll go order it," Charlie said. "Any preferred toppings, Alice?"

"No, whatever you get will be fine, Charlie. Thank you," Alice said, her voice and expression lively again.

"Right. Sure," Charlie said, and started to turn away. He paused, his hand gripping the doorframe, and studied me over his shoulder. "You really do look beautiful, Bells."

"Thanks, Dad," I murmured, my face heating.

"Yep," he said, and headed down the stairs.

"I better go, too. Your dad forgets things when he's embarrassed," Renee said, and stood to follow.

"Well," Alice said when we were alone. "Should we do makeup or try on another dress?"

"Another dress?" I repeated, dismayed. "I thought you said this was definitely my prom dress."

"Yes," Alice said with the air of someone speaking to a small child. "This is a different dress. For a different occasion."

"Alice, what the hell kind of occasion would I need a dress like that for?" I demanded, staring in horror at the black dress I had seen her pull out of her bag before. Only now that I knew it was for me did I notice how very short and tight it looked.

"To seduce my brother, obviously," Alice said, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry; it will work."

"What?" I gaped at her, horrified. "You can see stuff like that?"

"Yes," Alice said. "Don't be embarrassed, Bella. I've seen much worse things about so many other people. And before you ask, no, I don't mean sex – that's still on for the wedding night, as far as I can tell. It flickered a few times when you two first discussed it, but it's holding steady now. But he will agree to everything else you have in mind."

"The – wedding night?" I repeated, my brain and my heart stuttering violently as she unzipped the gauzy blue dress, pulled it off of me, and carefully hung it in my closet.

"Oh. Did I say too much?" Alice frowned, looking genuinely concerned for the first time. "I forget to watch myself around you because I know how much you'll love and accept it all later on."

"It's… it's okay. I do accept you," I said, but my mind was still stuck on my wedding night. "Hey, Alice, how far in the future can you see?"

"Oh, decently far," she said. "I saw Jasper thirty years before I actually found him, and I saw Carlisle and the others not long after."

"Oh. Okay. So we could be talking ten years from now before Edward and I get married," I said. But that would mean ten more years of wanting him desperately and not being able to fully have him. I didn't think there was any way I would be able to control myself that long. It would also put me at nearly thirty years old to his perpetual seventeen, which would never work for obvious reasons.

"Well… in theory, we could," Alice said carefully as she began to maneuver the skintight black dress over my head and shimmied it down my body.

"But we're not?" I guessed, gasping when it became hard to breathe.

"You're definitely still human when you get married, and you're definitely still young when you change," she told me, still gently tugging the dress over my hips and shifting it to settle just so.

"So, you do still see me as one of you?" I asked, nervous for her answer.

"Yes," Alice said, looking me in the eye with such certainty that I somehow, even though I still wasn't sure what I wanted, was comforted. "That has never changed."

"Edward said that your visions are dependent on decisions, so they could always change," I said.

Alice hummed her confirmation as she stepped back and studied the way the dress fit me.

"It's just… I haven't decided either way yet," I said. "And Edward is pretty set against it… so…"

"So whose decision is it dependent on?" Alice finished with a shrug. "Hard to say. Hard to know even _what_ decision it's dependent on. There's the chance that it's not so much a choice of whether or not to become a vampire, but to never be parted from Edward, or to get in the car and go for a drive that results in a horrible accident and we decide to change you, to save you, like Carlisle did for the others."

I was quiet, trying to imagine… would I be on death's door when it happened? Edward seemed dedicated to keeping me safe, but he couldn't be around all the time. He couldn't stop every bad thing from happening to me, especially not with how accident prone I was. It was just that I thought that if it happened, it would be my choice that did it, my decision to become one of them, that it would all be planned out and Edward would change me just so we could be together forever… if it happened at all.

Alice seemed to realize that I was really not in the mood for anymore dress up at the moment because she suddenly nodded, declared that the dress would do the trick nicely, and pulled it back over my head.

"Alice, can I ask you something?" I asked as she carefully hung the black dress next to the blue one. There was something I had been concerned about for a while, and I figured Alice was the best person to ask other than Edward himself.

"Of course," she said, turning back to me and handing me one of my favorite t-shirts and a pair of soft sleep shorts.

"Does Edward not want me to become one of you because he doesn't want forever with me? Or is there some other reason?" I asked.

"Of course Edward wants eternity with you. There's nothing he wants more," she assured me. "Do you really doubt that?"

I shrugged, biting my lip to stop myself from frowning as I slipped the pajamas on. "It just doesn't make any sense. If he wants that, then why is he so against changing me?"

"Edward is a very complicated person, Bella," Alice said carefully. "He has very firm beliefs which sometimes contradict what he really wants."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious and somewhat comforted by the absolute sincerity in her words.

"Bella, I really think that you should talk to Edward about this," Alice said with a small frown. "It might make your decision easier, and maybe you'll both feel more at peace with things."

"You mean Edward will feel more at peace," I said.

"Why, Bella, have you already made up your mind?" Alice teased gently.

"Not exactly. I just don't really see what could be so awful about it," I admitted shyly. There really weren't many people I could talk to about this; in fact, other than Edward, Emmett was the only one who'd humored me thus far and he had nothing bad to say about his life.

"Edward will have a whole list for you, don't worry," Alice said.

"I love him, Alice," I whispered, and sat heavily on the end of my bed.

"I know you do," she assured me, dancing over and sitting next to me. "I know, and I'm so happy that he's finally, after all this time, found you."

"It scares me," I admitted. Edward knew, but he hadn't really brought up my irrational fears since asking why the thought of marriage was so off putting.

"Love is terrifying," Alice said gently. I was happy that she understood that I didn't mean the idea of changing scared me. "It's terrifying, and it's messy, and it's hard sometimes, but Bella? It really is the most wonderful thing. To have someone you know you can rely on no matter what? Someone who would go to the end of the earth for you, who you would do the same for? It's better than anything, better than blood."

It would have been an odd thing to say if she were anyone else. Coming from a vampire, though, and one who had been married for more than fifty years? It was a powerful statement. Blood was what tied them to this earth, what called incessantly to them on a primal level, and for it to take a backseat to how deeply she and Jasper loved each other was astonishing.

"It's the way Edward loves you," she told me softly, wrapping a cold arm around me and resting her head on my shoulder.

"I think it might be the way I love him," I said, embarrassed to find that I was beginning to cry. It was just so overwhelming. I never had much interest in love until I met Edward.

"Oh, Bella, I know," Alice said.

This time, I heard the footsteps on the stairs too, and hastily swiped at the few tears rolling down my cheeks. Charlie poked his head around the doorframe. "Pizza's on the way, girls."

"Great. Thanks, Dad," I said. "We'll be down in a few."

I sniffled, and hoped he wouldn't notice. He looked at me for a moment, saw how Alice was still sort of hugging me, and definitely realized that something was going on. Thankfully, Charlie wasn't the sort to get into emotional situations unless he absolutely had to. He seemed to think Alice had this handled.

"Cool, see you in a bit," he said gruffly, and then he was gone, closing the door behind him as he went.

"Don't cry, Bella," Alice said softly, gently touching the skin beneath my eyes with the tips of her fingers. "It'll make it so much more difficult for me to do your makeup if your eyes are swollen."

"Makeup? Alice!" I protested.

"Don't try and fight it. It _will_ happen." She said it like it was a threat, and I sighed.

Later, after some very sneaky food avoidance on Alice's part, and then watching a movie with Charlie and Renee, Alice and I made our way back to my room.

"Wow, I wish my parents would be this cool with Edward staying the night," I said as I closed the door behind me. "It would be kind of nice not to have to stay hidden up here all night."

"Yeah, never going to happen," Alice said. "And I don't need a vision to tell me that."

"I know," I said, and shrugged as I lay down on my bed. "It would still be nice, though."

"They'll let you sleep at our house, though," she said as she rummaged around in her bag. I hoped against hope that she was just looking for her pajamas. "This summer. You'll have the whole house to yourselves, not that they'll know that. It will be a night to remember."

"God, Alice," I groaned. I didn't need to look in the mirror to know my face was burning crimson. "I really wish you couldn't see things like that."

"It is what it is," she said simply, and I got the impression that while she accepted her ability, she wasn't particularly happy to have visions of the sort either. She straightened up and brandished a makeup brush at me with a twisted pixie grin. "Now, stop trying to distract me and get that beautiful face over here so I can make you absolutely stunning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello! Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! 3
> 
> You have to love our meddling little pint-sized vampire! Really, though. How awful would it be to see all of your best friend/brother's possible sexual exploits with your other best friend/sister? Can you imagine?
> 
> Next chapter will be up in a few days. A lot happens in it.
> 
> _Chapter 19. The Other Kind._
> 
> _"Bella, I'm one hundred and nineteen years old and I've never been with a woman before," he reminded me. "I don't think it would take nearly as much effort as you seem to think."_
> 
> _"I guess that's fair," I said, my breath hitching when his cool fingers brushed my hair from my neck, and then he pressed his lips there. "So, are you seducing me, then?"_
> 
> _"Somehow, I don't think that would take much effort either," he said with a laugh._


	20. Chapter 19. The Other Kind.

It was Jasper, not Edward, who knocked on the door early the afternoon after Alice spent the night. When he and Alice saw each other, they embraced like they’d been apart for weeks rather than hours. It seemed a bit strange to me at first, but then Edward walked up behind Jasper, and I understood completely.

I rushed to him, and hugged him, and the way he looked at me let me know that he felt much the same, that he had missed me more than he had any right to after only one night.

“How was your night?” he asked, kissing the side of my head.

“It was pretty fun, actually,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I want to start spending nights without you.”

“Good, because I don’t want to, either,” Edward assured me.

So, we didn’t. Just like Edward had promised the night he had told me he loved me, he was there at my window every night. He left every morning before my parents could catch him, and returned either immediately after they were both gone for the day or, on weekends, around 9:00 a.m.

They suspected that something was going on, of course, because the only time I was ever not locked away in my room anymore was when they knew Edward was over and we were downstairs doing homework in the kitchen or pretending to watch a movie. But Edward’s ability to read their minds and his quick reflexes made it so they could never sneak up on us and find him in my room, so their suspicions could never evolve beyond the nagging thoughts that Edward caught.

“Let me guess. It’s Edward,” Charlie said exasperatedly at the knock on the front door at 9:00 a.m. sharp.

“We’re going hiking again,” I said, taking one last bite of toast.

It was our go to on days when the weather was nice. The sun wouldn’t break through the clouds today, so I unfortunately wouldn’t get to see him glimmer, but at least it wasn’t going to rain.

“Hiking a lot lately,” Charlie said, but it sounded like he meant something else.

“Only when the weather is nice,” I said. “It’s fun.”

“You never thought hiking was fun before,” Renee said. _Before Edward._ She didn’t say it, but I caught the implication.

Annoyed, I paused in the doorway – Edward was waiting, but I knew he could hear the entire conversation anyway.

“When have I ever gone hiking _before_ , Mom? Never,” I said, turning to face my parents. It was true; the first time Edward took me hiking was the first time I’d ever been. “Why is it a bad thing, anyway? Shouldn’t I be getting out and exercising?”

“Sure, of course that’s a good thing,” Renee said quickly. “Your father and I just wonder if sometimes maybe Edward could do things you want to do?”

“Okay, well, we went to the movies with Mike and Jessica last week and Edward and Mike don’t really get along that well, so I’d say that was Edward doing something I wanted to do. Also, _I_ asked _Edward_ to go hiking today.” I sighed, looking wistfully out into the hall, half wishing Edward would just walk in and whisk me away. “Can I go now? He’s waiting.”

“I’ll let him in,” Charlie said. “Your mother wants to talk to you.”

When he hurried from the kitchen and left Renee frowning after him, I sighed. I suddenly knew exactly what was going on.

“Really, Mom? Didn’t we do this when I was ten?” I said, rolling my eyes and sitting down hard in one of the chairs.

“You didn’t have a boyfriend when you were ten,” Renee pointed out, and took a long, deep, slow breath. On the other side of the house, I could hear Charlie gruffly inviting Edward in, and Edward’s soft, smooth reply. “You just spend so much time with him, and it seems like things have gotten really intense really quickly.”

She wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t exactly like I could explain the whole vampire thing to her, so I just shrugged helplessly.

“I just want to make sure you’re being careful. Boys at this age ... when they say they love you, it doesn’t necessarily mean forever.”

“Well, Mom, don’t worry about it ... no, really,” I said when she started to interrupt. “I’m a virgin. Edward’s a virgin. It’s entirely his doing that we are both virgins, and we have no intentions of changing that anytime soon.”

“You don’t have to lie to me, Bella, just promise you’re being careful,” Renee said, frowning at me.

“I’m not lying. He’s waiting for marriage. It goes back to his parents. His biological parents. It’s like a way to honor them,” I said, and I didn’t think it was a total lie. He had learned how to behave from his parents, after all. “They were old school and they wanted him to wait until marriage, so that’s what he’s decided to do.”

“Oh,” Renee said and I could see that while she wanted to believe me, it was still difficult for her.

“Look. It’s not happening anytime soon,” I assured her. “But if it makes you feel better anyway, when it does happen ... you know, in several years, after we’re married, we will be careful. And if it somehow happens before then anyway, we will still be careful. I’ve been on the pill since I was thirteen, remember? And I know about condoms. Now, please, can I go?”

I didn’t _think_ condoms would be a necessity with Edward, but what did I know? As far as any of the Cullens were aware, vampires and humans didn’t engage sexually. I would never have the guts to bring it up with Carlisle, but I wouldn’t put it past Edward to already have asked his pseudo-father for help figuring out exactly what precautions we would have to take.

Renee looked at me with narrow eyes for a moment. She parted her lips, and then shook her head. “Yeah, have fun.”

“Thanks.” I frowned at the odd way she was looking at me: confused – a bit worried still – and rushed out into the hall. Charlie and Edward had made their way to the living room. My father was sitting awkwardly in his chair, and Edward was looking quite serene on the little loveseat across the room. They both looked up when I entered the room. “Hey. I just need to grab my jacket. I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time,” Edward said, but I ran up the stairs and into my room and was back down, pulling my thick brown jacket over my arms as I went, nowhere near as fast as Edward and his family moved, but pretty quick for me.

“Please get me out of here,” I said through my teeth when Edward took his time getting to his feet. He smiled at me with feigned innocence - he knew exactly why I didn’t want to stick around - but moved relatively quickly to my side.

“We won’t be late,” Edward said to my parents as he opened the front door for me.

“Bye,” I called over my shoulder, and grabbed his hand to pull him to his car.

When he sat in the driver’s seat and buckled himself in, he was smirking.

I turned to face him, a glare already fixed on my face. “Go ahead. Laugh. I’m sure you enjoyed that immensely.”

“Your father thinks I’m taking you off somewhere to have my wicked way with you,” Edward snickered as he guided the car smoothly onto the street. “He doesn’t buy my vow of chastity.”

“Oh, God. My mom already brought him up to speed?” I groaned. “Well, she doesn’t buy it, either.”

“Actually, she does,” Edward said. “Your mother trusts you implicitly. She will never easily believe that you’re lying to her face.”

“Really?” I blinked, surprised. “But she looked… worried, still.”

“Yes, well, she is,” Edward told me. “She thinks we’re moving very quickly emotionally, that our relationship is more serious than either of us is truly prepared for.” He paused, drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, and shot me a sidelong glance. “Do you realize you told her you plan to marry me?”

“What?” I shook my head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.” He looked very pleased with himself, or with the thought of me telling my mother I wanted to marry him, or at the way my heartbeat quickened. “You told her, _in several years, after we’re married_.”

He was right, I realized. I did say that. No wonder she had seemed so concerned. I bit my lip.

“Yeah, well, if you ask Alice, it’ll be sooner than that,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. In truth, I was already feeling awkward and this wasn’t even the awkward conversation I planned on having.

“She told you about that?” Edward grimaced and shook his head

“It just… came up?” I said. “We were talking about something else and it led into marriage.”

No way was I about to tell him that Alice and I had been talking about my as-yet un-fleshed-out plan to seduce him. I could see by the way his head tilted toward me that he registered my hesitation and was curious.

“You know how Alice’s visions work,” Edward said.

“Yes, I do,” I said. “But Edward? You won’t find me betting against Alice.”

He was quiet for the rest of the short drive. I wondered if he was thinking about the marriage or the change, but unlike him, I was used to not knowing everything on a person’s mind; the curiosity didn’t burn at me nearly as intensely as it did him. When he parked the car at the trailhead we wouldn’t be using - same spot as the first time - he came to open my door.

“Do you want to run?” he asked. The first few times we came to the meadow, he ran us there in minutes, but lately I’d been trying to make most of the hike on my own. I was getting close; it was just that I usually got too eager to see him in the sun or to have his hands and lips on me to stick it out the whole way.

“No, let’s walk,” I said. It would give me time to think. That, and Edward didn’t usually press me for information when he knew I needed to concentrate on my footing, so I figured I would be pretty safe for a while.

“Has Alice seen anything new about the nomads?” I asked as he helped me over a fallen tree.

“No.” He frowned, looking worried, and scanned the trees, though I knew he would hear their thoughts long before he could see them. “She still sees some kind of altercation, but it’s getting fuzzy. She can’t see the details, or the moments leading up to it. It’s strange; nothing like this has happened before.”

“Do you have any thoughts on why she’s having trouble seeing it?” I asked.

“No. Carlisle is confused, too,” Edward said. He took a deep breath and turned to me. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea today. We should stick close to my family until they pass through. We can still spend the day outside together, just nearer the house.”

“Has she ever seen anything happen in our meadow?” I asked.

“No, but with the way she’s having trouble…” he shook his head. “We just can’t be certain.”

“Edward, I just want to be alone with you today,” I said, stepping in front of him and grabbing for both of his hands to bring his attention back to me instead of our surroundings. I wanted him to see how deeply I needed this. “And I don’t mean hiding in my room from my parents, or in your house where your whole family can hear every word we say whether they want to or not.”

“Bella...” he said, brows drawing together.

“Just today,” I pled, and rocked up onto the tips of my toes to kiss him quickly. “And then we can go back to hiding.”

“Not hiding,” he said, but he sighed and released one of my hands to keep walking, so I knew he had given in. “We’re being cautious, Bella.”

“We’ll go back to being cautious tomorrow, then,” I said brightly, immensely cheered by this one small win.

“Because you’re going to seduce me?” Edward asked shrewdly.

I tripped, but he seemed to expect that reaction; his hands were already there, steadying me before I even lost my balance.

“No, actually, I wasn’t going to go through with that,” I said several moments later, once I had regained control of my body. “I can’t believe Alice told you that.”

“She didn’t tell me anything. I was with her when she had the vision, so I saw it, too.” He said it like it was an important distinction, and it probably was, but all I could focus on was that _he_ _knew_.

“Right,” I said. I wished he didn’t know about it at all but since he did, and since he was already talking about it… “Did she see it happening in the meadow, then?”

“She just saw that we were alone.” He shrugged. “Like you said, we are so rarely truly alone anywhere else.”

I nodded. It made sense. And it did sound like me; I loved that meadow. It was where so much had truly started for us. Why would I want to try to seduce him anywhere else?

“Well, it wasn’t gonna happen today,” I said, eyeing him curiously. His face was carefully blank of emotion. “I’m sorry.”

“For planning on seducing me?” Edward asked with an odd smile. “Or for not?”

“Um, for not? I think.” I shook my head. “I don’t really know.”

He smiled at me, making my heart skip a beat, and lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Either way, there’s no need.”

We walked awhile longer in silence, hands clasped between us. I could tell Edward was wondering what I was thinking: his head was tilting towards me again.

“I am curious, now,” he finally said. I smirked. He was more predictable than he realized. “Why the sudden desire for complete privacy?”

“I wasn’t going to seduce you today.” I repeated. I could see the meadow now, just a slight brightness cutting through the dimness of the trees ahead. “I had actually pretty much given up the thought of that.”

“But?” Edward prompted.

“I was going to talk to you about it instead,” I admitted. “I was going to get your opinion on something.”

“Get my opinion on something?” He chuckled and shook his head at me. “I never know what to expect from you. My opinion on what? Seduction?”

“No.” I frowned and stopped walking when we reached the edge of the meadow. He walked to the center of the clearing, still snickering to himself. “Hey, stop laughing.”

“I’m sorry,” he said immediately, and stopped laughing, adopting a stoic face as he laid out a blanket on the damp grass. “I wasn’t laughing at you, but at myself - I somehow keep convincing myself that I know what you’ll do next, but you always surprise me. Will you sit with me, please? “

I did, crossing my legs beneath me, and Edward sat close to me, slid his arm behind me to draw me near. “What did you want my opinion on?”

“Well, I guess not really your opinion - your feelings, maybe?” I had to fight through the anxiety clawing at my belly. I took Edward’s hand in mine and traced the long lines of his fingers for a distraction before I worked up the courage to look him in the eyes. “I was talking to Madison the other day and she made me think that maybe we could still… well, you know there’s a lot of grey room between where we are and having sex.”

Next to me, Edward was smirking again. “I’m not hearing a question.”

“You know what I’m asking you.” I glared at him. Of course he was going to make me say it. “Are you refraining from all things carnal or just sex… intercourse specifically?”

He seemed to realize that he was going to have to take this conversation seriously or be in a world of trouble with me. He turned his body so that he was facing me head on, his eyebrows drawn together in thought.

“It’s not really something I’ve had to think about before I met you. I honestly never thought any of it was in the cards for me.”

“But?” I said, mimicking his earlier prompting.

“But now, clearly, it is,” he said with a small shrug. It was his turn to play with my fingers for comfort. “It’s something that you need. And so do I.”

He said it like he was surprised at the realization. No matter how many times he told me he’d never thought he’d be intimate with anyone – physically or emotionally – it still shocked me that he really meant it. Eternity was a long time to be alone.

“So that means that some day we’re a go?” I said. The thought made me nervous - it was exactly the answer I had hoped for, but it was also nerve wracking to know that it would actually happen.

“Some day?” Edward repeated, smiling. “You’ve never been particularly patient before.”

“Yeah, well I just know you usually need to prepare for these things.” I meant hunt, and he knew that.

“Hence the conversation rather than the seduction,” Edward said with a nod.

“Well, there’s that, but I also realized that I wouldn’t even know where to begin.” I laughed, embarrassed.

“Bella, I’m one hundred and nineteen years old and I’ve never been with a woman before,” he reminded me, plainly unashamed. “I don’t think it would take nearly as much effort as you seem to think.”

“I guess that’s fair,” I said, my breath hitching when his cool fingers brushed my hair from my neck, and then he pressed his lips there. “So, are you seducing me, then?”

“Somehow, I don’t think that would take much effort either,” he said with a laugh.

“Definitely not,” I agreed. My head was already getting fuzzy as he gently guided me down until I was lying on my back. He kissed my lips then, and my fingers threaded through his silky bronze hair. “I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you. Forever,” he murmured against my throat.

“Forever,” I repeated.

My hands moved to his waist, my fingers creeping under the thin material of his T-shirt. He wore a jacket to pick me up purely for my parents’ benefit, but he’d left it in the car, and I was so thankful that he had. My fingers went slack under his shirt when I felt his tongue flick out against my throat.

“How did you fill your nights before I started spending them with you?” he murmured against my neck.

“Wh-what?” Now? He was choosing to bring this up again _now_?

“That first morning I was in your room you were so relieved when I told you I’d never snuck in without your knowing,” he said, as if I needed reminding. His hands were on the front of my jacket, slowly dragging the zipper down. “Why was that?”

“Edward,” I breathed. He didn’t remove the jacket altogether – probably concerned that I’d catch a deathly cold if he did – but gently pushed the front of the jacket open on either side of my torso.

“Have I … put a damper on things by staying with you?” He pressed a kiss to my collarbone as his fingers toyed with the top button on my thick blue shirt.

 _He knew_. Or at least, he had a very accurate theory. I couldn’t find it in myself to be embarrassed when I felt his fingers brush the subtle dip between my breasts.

“A little,” I admitted.

His fingers paused and he grinned at me, pleased that I wasn’t denying it. He kissed me, the tender flesh over my heart, right where the soft swell of my breast began.

“Hopefully, I can make it up to you,” he whispered.

I whimpered. My fists clutched at his shirt, yanked, tried to lift it over his head. He laughed softly, took his hands from my shirt to brush mine aside. He knelt up over me, his knees on either side of my waist and, in the way of boys, he gripped the shirt at the back of his neck and pulled it over his head that way. The material fell to the blanket next to me, and I gaped at him.

I had only seen him this bare to me once before, that first time he’d taken me here to see him in the sun. He was just as beautiful in the dingy grey light. He shifted again to bring his chest close to mine, his face hovering over mine. I twined my arms around the back of his neck and hooked one leg over his waist. He let me draw him down over me and I felt, for the first time since Christmas night, the cold hard shape of him through his jeans.

He growled, and the sound shot straight to my core just like it had the only other time we’d been in this position. His weight shifted so that he was holding himself carefully on one arm pressed hard against the blanket over my head so that he could return to the task of unbuttoning my shirt without moving his hips from mine.

He slid the last button out of its hole and I felt the two halves of my shirt fall to the side, felt the cold air on my bare skin as I was left in just my thin white cotton bra. For the first time, it was his cold fingers and not mine that trailed seductively over my stomach. I didn’t even feel the cold when I saw the heat in his gaze. His lips parted as he stared hungrily down at me. Dazed and flattered by his reaction, I smiled up at him even as the breath heaved out of me.

He kissed me in earnest, and then quite suddenly he was gone. I sat up, dazed, and looked around for him, clutching my shirt over my bare chest and stomach.   
  
“What?” I said when I found him standing at the edge of the meadow facing away from me, shoulders tense, his shirt already back on. Had I completely misinterpreted everything that just happened? Again? There was no way. “What happened?”

“Bella, get up. Get dressed,” he said quickly. When he turned to me, I could see that he was listening to something, and he looked worried. So no misunderstanding this time. Trouble. “We need to leave.”

“What? What is it?” He was already standing in front of me again by the time I got my legs under me, already reaching for me as I buttoned my shirt with fumbling fingers.

“They’re here,” he said urgently, then cursed. “It’s too late. They caught our scent.”

“Who? The nomads?” I said. He moved me without speaking, stood directly in front of me in the center of the clearing.

“If we try to leave, they’ll just hunt us,” he said, and I knew he wasn’t talking to me, he was thinking out loud.

“You should call your family,” I said.

“They won’t reach us in time,” he said, but his phone was in his hand anyway. “Carlisle. They’re coming. No. Now. They’re close. Maybe a minute. No, the meadow. Alice knows it. I know, but it will be worse if we run. Back to town? All those people?”

He spoke almost too quickly for me to catch all of the words, and I could hear the low murmur of Carlisle’s quick responses. I thought I could hear rustling in the woods.

“Edward,” I whispered.

“I know,” he said to me, and then he turned back to the phone. “Just… hurry.”

“I’m so sorry, Bella,” he whispered, still facing that same spot in the trees.

They came out of the tree line - two men and one woman, just like Alice had foreseen. They were all barefoot, their toes covered in dirt, and they were all dressed casually in jeans and long-sleeved thick flannel shirts. They moved like cats, fluidly, always looking on the verge of shifting into a crouch. Their eyes were the color of red wine. Of blood.

They stopped, all three of them, just inside the meadow, in formation with the striking, tall, dark, muscular male front and center. He was the most attractive of the three, his deep skin tone doing much to hide the sickly pallor that was so present in his companions. Only his eyes and his strange feline gait gave way that there was something distinctly _other_ about him. On his left, and slightly behind, stood the other male, shorter and by far the least beautiful vampire I had ever seen with mousy brown hair and plain features. The woman stood on the leader’s other side, casually picking leaves and debris from her chaotic orange hair. If she weren’t staring me down hungrily, I might have thought her harmless.

“Pardon the intrusion. We were very curious when we caught your scent,” said the leader in a distant and faded French accent. He spoke directly to Edward, but his gaze kept flickering to me where I peered, cautious and curious, around his arm. “My name is Laurent. These are James and Victoria. We were just passing through.”

“I’m Edward.” His voice wasn’t soft and alluring like it usually was, but a low menacing hiss through clenched teeth. “My mate, Bella. We keep a permanent residence here with six others, so it would be for the best if you passed through sooner rather than later. You wouldn’t want to cause any problems in our territory.”

“Your mate?” said the woman, Victoria, with a scoff and a sardonic smirk. “She’s human.”

“For the time being,” Edward said. I understood that he was speaking the way he was because it was the best way to make a point to the nomads, but I wondered if he meant it. Was he beginning to consider the options I had spoken of all those months ago?

The other male, James, never took his eyes off of me. When he smiled menacingly and flashed a row of gleaming crooked teeth at me, Edward dropped into a low crouch and snarled, a sound much more severe and intimidating than the few warnings I’d heard him issue his siblings when we first started seeing each other.

“James,” said Laurent when the other male mirrored Edward’s stance, still wearing that creepy smile. “Let’s not be rude here.”

Edward remained crouched, ready to spring, even when James stood up straight. The woman hadn’t dropped her smirk, and I saw the way Edward leaned deeper in his crouch and shifted to the left, towards her.

“There’s plenty to share,” she said in a high-pitched sing-song voice.

“She’s _mine_.” The primal possessive tone of his growl made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Victoria,” Laurent warned, but she ignored him and was just a blur moving toward me. I didn’t see or feel Edward move at all, but he must have, must have caught her and thrown her as if she weighed nothing. She flew back, more than a hundred feet, hit a tree, and broke it in half with a thundering crash.

She landed on her feet in a crouch, very much like a cat, seemingly unfazed, and sneered. James dropped back into a crouch after a quick glance to ensure that she was okay. She merely brushed a few large splinters from her shoulders and shook even more out of her wild hair.

“And she’s mine,” James hissed, low and terrifying. “You’re going to pay for that.”

There was more movement in the trees, but the rustling was coming from behind me now. For a moment, I thought with relief that the rest of the Cullens had somehow already arrived, but the movement was too slow, like large creatures stalking prey.

“Oh,” Edward said suddenly, and his head cocked toward the movement behind us, his eyes never leaving the three vampires across the clearing. He somehow sounded both relieved and uneasy. Then, James sprang, and Edward shifted to block him. Clearly, James was a greater predator than his mate because there was no catching and throwing and crashing into trees.

They met with a crash like boulders, snarling and struggling with each other. I could see the woman preparing to pounce again, but then there was a low growl behind me – not like the sounds Edward and James were making, but like large, angry dogs. I looked back in time to see an impossibly large black wolf stalking out of the woods, a slightly smaller russet wolf just behind him, and two others, smaller and different shades of grey trailing after. All four of them had their teeth bared and were growling viciously, saliva dripping from incisors the length of my forearm.

“Oh my God,” I breathed tremulously as the black wolf moved past me. On all fours, he was as tall as me. The russet wolf paused just a hairsbreadth from me, his head at my shoulder, and I saw with great shock that his light brown eyes were human, and extremely familiar. “Jake?

He lowered his head and bumped my arm very gently, and then he turned and kept stalking. Shocked, I turned to watch the wolves’ progress and saw that all three of the nomads had stopped and were staring in awe and alarm. Edward dropped back into his protective crouch in front of me.

“You’re right,” Laurent said to Edward warily, backing away slowly with open hands extended toward the wolves. “We had better be on our way. James. Victoria.”

Reluctantly, but wisely, James began to back away from the wolves and Edward.

“Afraid of a few dogs?” Victoria was still smirking when she took another step forward.

The massive black wolf growled and snapped at her and tossed his head. I saw a white flash and something hit a tree with a thud. My mouth dropped open when Victoria shrieked in pain and I saw the bloody knob at the end of her arm - he had ripped off her hand with what looked like no effort at all. The second wolf – my friend, Jacob Black, I was certain – pounced and ripped off her entire arm with a screech of stone on stone.

“Oh my God,” I breathed again as the others jumped in and grabbed a leg each. Jacob held her torso down with one massive paw and bit down on her other arm as the largest wolf advance on her head. I couldn’t see what they were doing around their enormous bodies, but I knew from the sound - the shriek of rending vampire flesh and vicious wolf snarls and pained screams - exactly what was happening.

It was over not even five seconds after she had stupidly advanced on the wolves - her limbs and head and torso all thrown carelessly around the clearing. I could see by the shock and terror on Laurent’s face and the furious grief on James’s that they hadn’t expected that, and James wasn’t about to let it go.

“James, come,” Laurent said, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him away.

“This isn’t over,” James promised, glaring at Edward and me before he vanished after Laurent.

I felt my knees give out, would have fallen hard on my butt if Edward hadn’t caught me.

“Oh my God,” I said yet again.

“Bella, are you okay?” Edward asked frantically, lowering me carefully to the ground and running his hands over my face and body.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Stop,” I said, brushing his hands aside and struggling to my feet.

The wolves were still growling, looking at Edward now. I stepped in front of him, glaring at him when he tried to push me aside. “They won’t hurt me,” I said. “They can’t.”

The largest one looked at me and I imagined he was glaring at me.

“That’s right. I know who you are. I know why you’re here. I know your stories,” I said. “I may not know your name specifically… except for Jake… but I’m sure we’ve met and you can’t hurt me, and I’m reminding you that you can’t hurt Edward either, or any of the Cullens. You have a treaty and they haven’t broken their terms. They haven’t killed anyone.”

“He wants to make the distinction that we’re not to bite anyone,” Edward said.

“Well, they haven’t done that, either,” I snapped, eyeing the black wolf. “What? Are you Sam? Sam Uley?”

“Yes,” Edward confirmed.

Sam was a big, older boy with an open disdain for most people, and he was the one who had led Jake away from me when he’d been so angry to learn I was dating Edward. He had a girlfriend, Emily Young, who was sweet and kind and pretty despite the scars on her face. It wasn’t until now that I realized they were in the shape of wolf claws.

“They haven’t hurt any humans,” I said quietly. “Can you say the same? How’s Emily?”

Sam growled and stepped toward me. Jacob jumped between us, snarling viciously, muzzle an inch from Sam’s. Sam growled and snapped at him, but Jacob didn’t flinch. He crouched, and looked ready to pounce, hackles raised. The two grey wolves cowered and looked anxiously between the two.

“The grandson of Ephraim Black was not born to follow a Uley,” Edward said softly, translating for my benefit, I knew.

“Jake, it’s okay,” I said, and timidly placed a hand on his back. His red-brown fur was soft and thick and warm. His massive head turned toward me, one eye meeting my gaze, and he slowly straightened out of his predatory stance. I looked at Sam and frowned.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair of me, but you have to understand… You’re not all that different than the Cullens. They’re trying to protect humans, too,” I told him. Granted, I wasn’t sure _how_ _far_ out of their way any of the Cullens but Carlisle would have gone to protect humans before they met me, but that wasn’t my point. “Those two who just left, they’re not like the Cullens. They do hunt and prey on humans. You should be stalking them, not Edward.”

“You won’t catch them now,” Edward said. “They’re heading north, they’ve already made some distance. My family and I will follow them, but you should be on the look out. Just in case.”

Sam huffed at Edward and I didn’t need Edward’s translation to understand that he was warning him that they were always on the look out. Sam turned and walked slowly out of the clearing. The smaller two followed after him, leaving just Edward, Jacob, and me.

“Jake, the rest of the Cullens are in the woods. They’re headed here now. You have to tell the others so they don’t attack them,” I said.

He bowed his head, nosed my elbow again, and looked at Edward, who was talking quietly on the phone - saying something about the car.

“He wants to know if you’ll be okay with me,” Edward said. When Jake huffed, Edward smiled slightly. “And he wants me to stay out of his head.”

I hadn’t told Jake that Edward could read minds, but I supposed it was pretty apparent that that was what he was doing.

“He can’t help it,” I whispered. “And yes, I’ll be fine with Edward. You should go, Jake.”

“Thank you for your help, Jacob,” Edward said. “I owe you a great debt. Yes, I know. Of course you didn’t do it for me, but regardless.”

I was pretty used to Edward having one-sided conversations with his family, but it was strange watching him talk to an enormous wolf.

“I’ll see you around, Jacob,” I said as Jake turned and slowly slunk off into the woods after his pack.

“Jacob Black is a very kind soul,” Edward said when he was gone.

“Yeah, he is,” I agreed, tearing my gaze from the spot where Jake had disappeared to watch Edward move frenetically around the clearing. “Was that Carlisle?”

“Yes, they’re going to meet us at the car. Esme and Rosalie will take you home and the rest of us will go after James and Laurent.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked as he picked up the blanket, shoved it into his backpack.

“You know what Alice saw, and you heard what James said,” Edward said. He was moving so quickly he was little more than a blur, making his voice sound eerie as it jumped from place to place in the meadow. “I know what was in his mind, Bella. He’s a tracker; the hunt is his obsession. He’ll never stop coming for you. He’ll never give up. We have to go after him. We have to end this now.”

“I just don’t want any of you to get hurt,” I said, frowning when Edward started to gather Victoria’s body parts into a neat little pile. “What are you doing?”

“We have to burn the pieces,” he told me. “To make sure she’s dead.”

“Are you telling me that she can be… put back together right now?” My stomach churned at the thought.

“Yes, her venom would bind her back together,” Edward said, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and setting her aflame. A sickly sweet, acrid scent filled the air almost instantly, and did nothing to soothe my stomach. “Come on. We need to go.”

He scooped me up into his arms and began to run. Minutes later, we stopped next to his car.

“What about the fire?” I asked, out of breath as if I’d just sprinted five miles instead of him.

“It’s too damp to spread; it’ll be fine,” he said, lowering me to my feet. “They’ll be here in a moment. I can hear them. Their thoughts are practically screaming at me.”

“Edward, I’m afraid. I don’t want you to go. I don’t want us to be apart,” I said, clinging to his shirt. I didn’t care if I sounded desperate; I _felt_ desperate. The thought of him leaving me to go after two homicidal vampires, and potentially get hurt in the process, was unbearable.

“I know,” he said, kissing me quickly. “But there’s no other way. Alice and I are the only ones who can track him. She can see where they’ve decided to go, and once we’ve caught up, once we’re close enough, they can’t hide their thoughts from me. They don’t even know they ought to try.”

“What do I tell my parents?” I asked. “It’s only been about a couple hours, and we’re usually gone all day, and you won’t be around tomorrow.”

“Tell them we got in a fight. They’ll believe it,” Edward said, and his gaze snapped up. “They’re here.”

I turned in his arms just as his family materialized out of the woods, all six of them converging around us.

“Son, what happened?” Carlisle demanded, grasping Edward by the shoulders and looking very much like a concerned father as he looked him over.

“How did you get away? How did _they_ get away?” Jasper asked, a fierce look on his face.

“Did you kill them?” Emmett snarled, and it almost looked like he hoped not, like he was gearing for a fight.

“Where did they go?” Rosalie demanded.

“Bella, are you okay?” Esme asked softly, drawing me away from Edward as the others converged on him.

“I’m fine,” I told her, but I could feel myself trembling.

A very small voice spoke close to my ear.

“Why couldn’t I see it?” Alice looked broken. I took her hand and she looked at me with stricken eyes. “Why didn’t I see it? I’ve been watching for them and I never saw them in your meadow.”

“The wolves,” I said. All of the Cullens looked at me, but I looked at Edward. It suddenly made sense. “It had to be the wolves. Right? What else could it be? Their primary goal is to protect their people from vampires. It seems reasonable that they would have some built-in defense, right?”

“What wolves?” Jasper asked, looking from Edward to me to Carlisle.

“The Quileute pack,” Edward explained. “It seems they’ve returned.”

“The wolves are back?” Carlisle asked, dumbfounded.

“There were four of them. They ripped the woman to pieces like it was nothing,” I said.

“We can figure this all out later,” Emmett cut in, that hungry look still on his face. “We need to get going if we’re going to catch up with them.”

“He’s right,” Edward said. “They’re probably halfway to Canada by now.”

“Alaska,” Alice said, and her grip on my hand tightened almost to the point of pain. I turned to look at her and saw that blank look on her face. “They’re headed towards the Denalis.”

Carlisle was on the phone before Alice had finished speaking. “Tanya,” he said, and then his voice was so low and fast that I couldn’t hear him.

“So, what? Esme and I stay here and babysit?” Rosalie said, frowning at Edward.

Esme rubbed my arm gently as Edward turned to glare at Rosalie.

“She’s part of our family,” Esme said in a stern tone I had never heard from her before. “We protect our family.”

“But if they’re going to Alaska, why do I even need protection?” I asked.

“It’s just in case they change course and we don’t catch it in time,” Jasper said, and I felt calmer instantly.

“In case I don’t see in time,” Alice corrected.

“It’s okay, Alice,” I said. “It’s not your fault. We’re fine anyway.”

“She’s right, Alice,” Carlisle said, hanging up the phone. “It’s not your fault, but we do need to go.”

“The Denalis are on the watch for them,” Edward explained to the others. “They won’t fight them or kill them, but they’ll let us know if they pass through their territory. They’ll try to stall them if they can.”

“Be careful,” Esme told Carlisle, moving away from me to kiss her husband. When they parted, she turned to her children. “All of you.”

“Kill the bastards,” Rosalie said, kissing Emmett passionately, “and come home to me.”

“I’d be stupid not to,” Emmett said as Rosalie slid behind the wheel of the Volvo.

“I don’t like this,” I said again as Edward moved back to my side.

“It’s the only way,” he repeated softly. “Just trust me. I’ll see you soon.”

“I do trust you,” I said as he cupped my face in his hands. “I just love you, too.”

“I love you,” he whispered and kissed me. “For all eternity.”

And then he opened the door for me and guided me into the back seat. Esme was already in the passenger seat. Rosalie started the engine the second Edward closed the door, and she drove off. When I turned for one last glance at him out the window, he and all the other Cullens were already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to be so long before I updated! My life has been pretty hectic lately. I started a new job last week and it’s been really crazy! But I guarantee it won’t be long before I get the next chapter up. I plan to have it posted in a couple days.   
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I hope you’re not too frustrated that they were interrupted before Edward could ‘make it up’ to Bella for cramping her solo style. But I did tell you guys things were going to get real!   
> Let me know your thoughts!   
> Next chapter:   
> _Chapter 20. Family Ties.  
>  “Edward has been alone for a very long time. It's easy to believe you're a monster when you won't allow anyone to love you romantically. But when love finds you anyway, it changes things inside of you.” The tenderness in her gaze told me that she would have a different kind of tear rolling down her face if she could. “You've changed my son for the better, Bella, and you never even thought to try. You'll never understand how much I will always love you for that.” _


	21. Chapter 20. Family Ties.

I made a point to slam the front door behind me. Esme was still standing on the porch watching me to make sure I got in safely; I knew she would be in my room the instant I was inside. When my parents looked away from their TV show, I didn't have to pretend to be upset - I was terrified after what had just happened and in anticipation of what was going to happen, and I was stressed and worried about Edward and the rest of his family hunting James and Laurent. What if they didn't catch up with them? And what if they did? Neither option sounded good.

"Bella? Are you okay? Where's Edward?" Renee asked, starting to stand. Charlie was already on his feet, had likely shot to attention the second the door slammed like a gunshot.

"He went home," I said, moving quickly to the kitchen. I needed water. I needed to breathe; I felt like I hadn't breathed since Edward had vanished into thin air with the others.

"Did something happen?" Charlie asked, and I looked around to see that he and Renee had followed me to the kitchen. He looked alarmed, every inch a father, every inch a cop. "Did he hurt you?"

"What?" I said, genuinely confused. Edward? Hurt me? Never. "No. We just got into an argument. It's not a big deal."

"Did he break up with you?" Renee asked softly, reaching out to smooth my hair. It probably looked a mess after Edward raced me back to the car. It had probably looked a mess before that, too, after our very enthusiastic make out session. Had it really been less than an hour ago that Edward and I were blissfully undressing on his blanket in our meadow? It felt like several lifetimes had passed.

"No, jeez. It was just a fight. What? You've never been in a fight before? One that didn't end in a divorce?" I said harshly. It wasn't fair for me to lash out at them like this, but I needed them not to crowd me, not with Esme and Rosalie around, and not when all I wanted was to curl up into a ball and sob as I waited for Edward to call me and tell me that everything was okay.

"Sure." Charlie shrugged, but he still looked concerned.

"Of course, Bella," Renee said, reaching for me. "But baby, you're crying."

I touched my face, surprised to find my cheeks wet. "No, it's… it's fine. I just… I'm going to my room."

"No, Bella, honey. We can talk about it. Whatever it is, you can tell us," Renee said when I pulled away from her.

"Yeah. Whatever happened. If he hurt you, I'll take care of it," Charlie said. Renee shot him a severe look when a sound dangerously close to a sob escaped my lips.

"Oh my God, he _did_ _not_ _hurt_ _me_. It was a stupid argument. I don't want to talk about it. I just want to be _alone_ ," I insisted. I was approaching hysterical now and they couldn't help because they didn't know what was going on and I couldn't tell them about it. I wanted Esme; I wanted her to lie and tell me that everything was going to be okay.

They didn't follow me when I rushed up the stairs, and they didn't try to reason with me when I slammed my bedroom door. Esme was there already, sitting in the chair by the window. She rose when I entered the room, crossed to me, and pulled me into a gentle, maternal hug.

"Oh, sweetheart," she crooned when I clung to her. I was marginally comforted when I pressed my hot, wet face to her familiarly cool shoulder. It was almost as if Edward was there with me. "You're safe now. Nothing is going to happen to you."

I pulled back to stare at her even as my vision swam with fresh tears and I shook my head. "I'm worried about everyone else. Edward, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett. They're chasing after two crazy, homicidal vampires and any one of them could be hurt or killed."

"Oh, Bella, you sweet, wonderful girl." Esme stroked my hair the way Renee used to on the rare occasion I would seek her out for comfort when I was little. I felt her cool lips brush against my forehead. "They're going to be fine. Each one of them is capable in their own way. No one can take Edward by surprise save you. Alice can see where her opponent will be at any moment. Emmett is the strongest mature vampire any of us have ever come across. Carlisle is over four hundred years old and while he's always strived for peaceful conflict resolutions, he hasn't lasted this long without knowing how to defend himself from our kind, and Jasper spent most of the years before he found us battling other vampires. They'll be fine."

She spoke calmly and confidently and with the utmost respect for her family's abilities, and it soothed me.

"You're really not worried?" I asked, swiping at my eyes so I could study her.

"I won't lie to you. Of course I am, Bella. They're my husband and my children. I always worry about them," she said, and her honesty comforted me even more. "But I know they can do this."

"It's five to two," I said to reassure myself.

"It's five to two," she echoed with a soft smile. "Would you like me to stay or did you want to be alone like you told your parents? I can wait outside."

"No, don't… I want you to stay," I said quickly. "I don't want to be alone at all, and I certainly don't want you standing outside my house until they call and tell us it's done. You should be comfortable."

"We don't really feel discomfort in the way that you mean," Esme said. I already knew that. Edward had told me long ago that most of the so-called normal things they did were to blend in and not for any personal need. Honestly, Esme would probably be more uncomfortable being so close to my blood than standing out in the dark, drenched in rain all night. "But I am happy to stay with you."

"Thank you," I said, and sat on my bed leaning against the pillows. When I drew my knees up to my chest, Esme sat in the middle of the bed cross-legged. She smiled when I reached for the blanket she'd gifted me, which I kept folded on my bed at all times, and wrapped it around myself.

"Would you like to talk or would you prefer silence?" Esme asked, and I smiled. I liked her before, but I was quickly beginning to love her the way the rest of the Cullens did.

"I think I'll go crazy with worry if we're silent," I admitted quietly. The only problem was, I couldn't think of anything to talk about other than what the others might be up to, and that wouldn't do anything to calm me down.

She smiled kindly at me, and there was understanding in her eyes. I wondered how often her family had split up like this, how often she had sat and worried. "Well then, did Edward ever tell you how Carlisle and I met?"

I shook my head. "He only said that you fell off a cliff and Carlisle changed you because he already knew you."

"Edward is nearly as sweet as you," Esme said with a fond smile as she thought of her first son. "I actually jumped from the cliff, but that isn't how we met."

I stared at her in disbelief. I couldn't imagine sweet, gentle, happy, compassionate Esme Cullen attempting suicide. It was even more difficult for me to believe than it had been when Carlisle had told me of his many attempts to kill himself after he was changed. But I knew she wanted to tell me her story, and I wanted to know all of their stories. "Then how did you meet?"

"I was maybe a little younger than you, and I was a happy, gregarious girl. Mischievous and adventurous, too. I was climbing a tree with my brother and I fell and broke my arm. Carlisle was working nights in the hospital in Columbus at the time and he treated me. I, of course, was stricken by his beauty. A sixteen year-old girl in the presence of such an angel? I did feel like I'd died and gone to heaven. I couldn't stop my mouth from running. I pulled at something in him. Not romantically; I was a child. But he had a fondness for me. He found my nervous prattling endearing. It was before he turned Edward. Just before. Well, he entertained my chatter and fixed me up and sent me on my way, kind and gentle as the man you've come to know. I didn't see him again until a decade later when I woke with new eyes."

"I bet you never forgot him," I said. I knew I would have remembered Edward forever even if we'd never moved past that first day when he'd nearly lost that battle not to kill me in the cafeteria.

"Never," Esme confirmed somewhat dreamily. "But, well, that outgoing young girl turned into a woman, and a man won her heart, and he was sweet, and kind, and his hair was nearly as gold as Carlisle's. We married when I was twenty-two. It wasn't long before he stopped being sweet and kind, before he stopped pretending to love me. He was cruel and abusive and he killed that happy young girl long before I decided to jump from that cliff."

"What happened?" I whispered. How could anyone ever purposely hurt such a kind, wonderful woman?

"I got pregnant. I had a baby, a beautiful little boy with pink cheeks and blond curls. He died in the night just a few days after I brought him home. It broke my heart," she said simply. "Shattered me. I was on my own. I'd run from my husband, you see. My parents didn't support me leaving him, even knowing how he treated me. It simply wasn't done. So, I went to my cousin in Milwaukee, but he found me there, so I ran again, and I ended up in Ashland. I changed my name to Anne Pritchard and told everyone my husband had died in the war. I became a teacher."

I remembered what Edward had said about human memories fading if you didn't make the effort to keep them, and I wondered why Esme had clearly chosen to remember her sad, miserable tale.

"It was a good life for the few months I lived it. I was able to secure an apartment and ready myself for my little boy. I had a cot all set up in the corner of my single bedroom. He was born in the summer of 1921, and he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Even more beautiful and more precious than Carlisle. He had bouncy blond curls, thick and supple, and the softest pink face. He smelled so sweet, and he was so warm and solid in my arms." Her face was contorted with grief now, and I knew that if it were at all possible, there would be tears rolling down her cheeks. I reached out and took her hand, and she smiled sadly at me. "His lungs were very weak, and he died after only two days."

Her voice was steady yet, and her hand was strong under mine, but I didn't expect anything less. It made sense to me, suddenly. She never wanted to forget the baby she'd had for such a short time.

"So. I went for a walk," she continued in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone. "I walked right over the edge of the cliff I'd found one day when I was still heavy with child. It was a beautiful view, and I'd imagined bringing my son there. I would pack a picnic, and him, and we would watch the sunset and I would tickle his chubby cheeks with a long, soft stem of grass and he would giggle and all of the horrors of my life with his father would be gone.

"A hiker found me not long after I jumped, and I was brought to the hospital morgue. They assumed I was dead because my body was so broken; there was really no reason that I should have survived it, but I did. Carlisle happened to be working in that hospital at that time. When he left Columbus, he went to Chicago, and it wasn't long before he found and changed Edward, so they had to leave sooner than he normally would have, and they ended up in Ashland. Well, he heard a weak heartbeat coming from the morgue where there should, of course, be no heartbeat. So, he investigated, and he recognized me. He remembered the happy, talkative girl I was, the fondness he had felt for me then, and that same strange something pulled at him, so he took me away and he turned me."

I wondered if it was anything like the pull between Edward and me, and knew instantly that it was. Alice had described her relationship with Jasper in a similar manner, and Emmett's with Rosalie, and it had reminded me of the way I felt for Edward. Was it some supernatural force to do with vampire mates, or was it just the way any two souls mated when they fit just right together?

"He was the first thing I saw when I woke, and I've never wanted to look away since." The grief had faded from her face now, but her smile was still reserved.

"What did he say?" I asked. "How did he explain to you what he had done? What you had become?"

"Very gently," she said, and her voice seemed to mimic her husband's soft, tender tone. "He was so kind and he apologized profusely."

"For what?" I asked. "He saved your life."

"True." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "But, Bella, this isn't a life that most of us would have chosen. Carlisle, Edward, and Rosalie especially."

It seemed odd to me that Carlisle, who had made four others was one of the Cullens who least wanted this life, but that wasn't the most pertinent detail.

"Edward would rather be human? Why?" I couldn't think of a single thing about being human that was better than being a vampire. Maybe food?

"He feels that when the change happens, you lose a part of yourself. Not your personality or your intellect, and not only most of your memories." Esme gave me a small, sad smile. "He believes he's lost his soul."

"His soul?" Completely aghast, I stared at her and shook my head. "No. That's not even possible. I look at him, talk to him, spend two seconds with him and I know that's not true."

"You know that, and I know that, because we love him so deeply. Because we see the talented, intelligent, caring, selfless person he is. We see him more clearly than he sees himself." Esme shook her head. "All Edward sees when he looks inward is everything terrible he's ever done. And he has done some awful things, but I would argue he's done more good."

"He told me about the years he spent away from you and Carlisle, and all the people he killed," I said, feeling somewhat wrong bringing it up to Esme, but she continued to look at me, expression unchanged. "So I know he's done terrible things, but they were all bad people, and if he didn't have a soul, truly wasn't good, he wouldn't have stopped. He wouldn't have come back to you."

"I agree, Bella." Esme touched my knee lightly, a companionable contact shared between a mother and the girl who loved her son, an acceptance, an appreciative gesture.

"Do you know, his first victim was Charles Evenson," Esme said. At my confused look, she smiled. "My human husband. He never told me, but he told Carlisle and Carlisle can't and won't ever keep anything from me. He did it for me, to avenge the horrors I experienced at his hands."

"That's kind of sweet." I frowned, considered the absurdity of the thought. "I mean, in an obviously really weird and twisted way."

"It is, isn't it?" Esme agreed.

"Is that why he doesn't want me to change?" I asked after a brief pause, unable to stop myself. I had promised Alice that I would talk to Edward about this, but Edward always shut down whenever he sensed I was gearing up to it. "Because he sees it as if he would be taking away my soul?"

"Initially, yes, I think so," she said, and then a small conspiratorial smile tugged at her lips. "But I also think you'll find that he is easier to reason with than you might expect."

I believed her. Just over an hour ago, hadn't he agreed to so much more intimacy - not sex, but more than I thought he would agree to? "Why is that?"

"Edward has been alone for a very long time. It's easy to believe you're a monster when you won't allow anyone to love you romantically. But when love finds you anyway, it changes things inside of you." The tenderness in her gaze told me that she would have a different kind of tear rolling down her face if she could. "You've changed my son for the better, Bella, and you never even thought to try. You'll never understand how much I will always love you for that."

"I didn't do anything," I said with a shy, uncertain shrug. "I actually feel like I'm causing all of you more trouble. These nomads wouldn't have attacked if not for me."

"I'm sure Edward didn't conduct himself as calmly as he could have." At my questioning gaze, she elaborated. "If he was particularly defensive, they would have been more intrigued. If he was calm and welcoming, they may not have cared so much. They would have been curious, no doubt, but they may not have been so aggressive. Now, I don't blame him for being defensive and probably a bit hostile. It was a difficult situation to navigate; I'm not convinced even Carlisle could have managed a peaceful outcome."

Maybe she was right, I thought, remembering the way Edward had shifted into a defensive stance before the three vampires had even reached us. I would have assumed that Edward, with his mind reading, would be just as good as Carlisle, if not even better, at de-escalating situations. I wondered if he would have done better if he hadn't been so overwhelmed by the need to protect me at all cost.

"You've given him something he never realized he was missing, something none of the rest of us could give him." She touched her cool fingertips to my cheek and smiled. "You love him, and you love him well, and you've taught him a new type of love as well. We are so blessed to have you. We are all so thankful for you."

I could think of at least one person who didn't always seem particularly pleased with my presence. "Where's Rosalie? Shouldn't she be here by now?"

She wasn't hostile around me anymore, not like she had been the first time I'd been to the Cullens' house. Sometimes, I even thought she might kind of like me. But then there were times I would catch her looking at me with this odd expression, not quite anger but something very close to it.

"She's been here for a while. She's just past the tree line," Esme told me. I stood and walked to the open window. I couldn't see anything. I was sure Esme could see her, though, as she came to stand next to me. I wondered if she had sensed her arrival or if Rosalie had spoken to let her know.

"Rosalie?" I said quietly, hesitantly. I felt stupid and awkward talking to someone I couldn't even see, someone who shouldn't be able to hear me, but definitely could. "You can come inside. If you want."

Esme touched my elbow and smiled. "She prefers to be outside for the time being. She feels more productive scanning the woods."

Or she just didn't want to be near me when I was the reason her husband and the rest of her family were running right into danger.

"Oh," I said. I bit my lip and nodded, and glanced back at the dense trees. "Well, if you change your mind the window will be open."

"So sweet of you," Esme said again.

The rest of the afternoon and night passed quietly. Esme told me more stories of the Cullens' lives before I met them, before I'd even been born. Apparently, Edward had always been quieter and more brooding than the rest of his family, though he'd been almost insufferably so the past few years. Rosalie appeared - seemed almost to materialize in my window - just as it started to rain. If I wasn't so used to Edward doing the same thing, it might have given me a heart attack.

She sat quietly in the chair and didn't participate in the conversation until Esme gave her a severe, warning look only a mother could pull off. Then, she reluctantly told me that she and Edward hadn't gotten on well at all for the first few years. They had clashed incessantly until she found Emmett - apparently she hadn't liked Edward much when she was human and had allowed that to carry over into her second life.

"He was private and withdrawn - that much hasn't changed - but I mistook his reticence as him perceiving himself to be better than me. And Edward resented Carlisle's choice to turn me, which made him moodier and more withdrawn, which made me dislike him more," Rosalie sighed and made a repetitive gesture with her hand. "It was a vicious, endless cycle."

"Why did he resent Carlisle?" I asked. By no means did Edward and Rosalie have a particularly warm relationship, but they clearly loved each other as siblings now.

Rosalie smiled ruefully and exchanged a look with Esme, who stifled a laugh behind her hand. "Carlisle thought… well, he initially intended for me to be for Edward what Esme is to him."

"Carlisle was trying to play matchmaker?" I said with a small laugh. I knew I wasn't hiding my discomfort particularly well - Rosalie was initially meant for Edward? Who was I in comparison to her? Of course, that was a stupid feeling considering they hadn't felt anything romantic in the near century they'd been family and Rosalie and Emmett were clearly crazy for each other. Still, the knowledge made me foolishly insecure.

"It didn't work, Bella," Rosalie reminded me, surprisingly gentle. "Edward is and always will be an annoying brother to me."

"I know that," I said and shrugged awkwardly. "It's just weird to know that wasn't the intention."

"I'm sure," Rosalie said. "I would probably feel the same way if I learned that Emmett was supposed to be with someone else."

Esme laughed, a soft soothing chime, as if that was a particularly amusing idea. I remembered Emmett telling me his story, and how he had spoken about Rosalie, how he had looked at her as he recalled those last few moments of his life, and the first few moments of his eternity. I couldn't imagine anyone ever being stupid enough to try to pair Emmett up with anyone but Rosalie.

"You know the only time I've ever seen Edward surprised before he met you?" Rosalie asked suddenly. I was happy to hear Rosalie's stories; I wasn't sure how long her uncharacteristic openness would last.

"When?" I said eagerly. Esme giggled again, apparently already aware what story Rosalie was going to tell.

"He was out hunting with Emmett when Alice and Jasper showed up at our house," Rosalie said. "When he came home, he went right up to his room to do some broody journaling or whatever he did in there before he met you. And there was Alice, making herself right at home."

"In his room?" I asked.

"She decided to move into his bedroom," Esme confirmed with an affectionate little chuckle. "Took all of his belongings and moved them to the basement."

I felt my eyebrows wing up. Alice was not always the most aware of people's boundaries, but moving a stranger's belongings out of his bedroom and into the basement seemed a little much, even for her.

"She'd had a vision about him," Rosalie told me. "And so she knew that they would be best friends. She already considered him her best friend because, well, you know Alice. She did the same to you."

"Yeah, but what did Edward do?" I asked. I couldn't picture Edward being particularly welcoming in that situation.

"It took him all of five seconds to recover - an eternity by Edward's standards and then he accepted it." Rosalie shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. Maybe it wasn't. Edward did seem to give in to Alice a lot more easily than to any of his other siblings, except where my future was concerned.

"Alice and Edward share a special bond," Esme said.

I had noticed. "Yeah, why is that? Other than Alice obviously being so great."

"They share a very similar burden," Esme said. "Because of their abilities. Wonderful abilities, but not something that either of them can control entirely. They find solace in each other."

It made sense. The two Cullens with psychic abilities that forced them to unintentionally invade everyone's privacy likely would have struggled with the burden. It was probably such a relief to them both to finally have someone who could fully appreciate the struggle.

"Was that weird for Jasper? At first?" I asked. It must have been unsettling to see Alice so attached to another guy right off the bat.

"Maybe for a grand total of three seconds," Rosalie said. "Don't forget he can read and manipulate emotions. There was very clearly nothing but familial love there, despite how immediately it formed."

"Oh yeah." I remembered the sudden inexplicable calm I had felt when Jasper had come near me earlier. "I do forget about that sometimes."

After our first meeting, Jasper had been very respectful of my request for him not to influence my emotions until today. All things considered, I couldn't really blame him for using his ability on me today.

"But what about Emmett?" I asked. "Was he ever uncomfortable with the whole you and Edward deal?"

Rosalie laughed, and her amusement transformed her face. She really was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. "Emmett? He's never been insecure about anything a day in his life. In either of his lives," she told me. "The moment he opened new eyes and saw me for the first time, he knew."

"Sounds kind of like when I first saw Edward," I muttered. I was miserable that day, I remembered, dreading starting a new school in a new dreary climate. But when I saw Edward, I forgot all about that. I just knew there was something there. I even drew his face perfectly before I ever even saw him up close. The drawing was right beside me on my bedside table. Of course it took almost two months for him to come around, but I felt like I'd always known.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "All human girls are attracted to Edward."

And suddenly, I knew our friendly conversation was over. Esme smiled at me gently. "It's getting late. Are you ready to go to sleep?"

"Yeah, I guess." But I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, not when Edward and most of his family were putting themselves at risk because of me.

After I showered, I laid in bed with my back to Esme and Rosalie - I considered offering them something to make them more comfortable but knew Esme would kindly refuse and Rosalie would brush me off with a scoff. They spoke in barely audible murmurs in the corner, and I stared at the wall in silence, wrapped in Esme's purple blanket, and wished Edward were wrapped up with me, and I clutched at the locket he had given me which I wore every day, and I worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Let me know how you liked this chapter! I love Esme so much, and I just really need for Bella to have one-on-one conversations with every Cullen and to get all of their stories! Ya girl can't choose to become a member of the family without knowing their experiences! Edward, Carlisle, Emmett, and now Esme down! Alice doesn't have an origin story (sadface). We've just got Jasper and Rosalie left. Which one do you want to hear from next?
> 
> I'm planning to have the next chapter up in just another few days.
> 
> _Chapter 21. Fire and Blood._
> 
> _Where were Rosalie and Esme? Until Victoria, I'd never seen a vampire injured, and even that had taken four giant wolves. Rosalie and Esme had to be okay, but then why weren't they here? They had to be waiting for something, but what? Edward? I couldn't know for sure._


	22. Chapter 21. Fire and Blood.

Edward finally called me around midday on Sunday. Esme had reassured me all morning that it wasn’t surprising or alarming that we hadn’t heard from them yet - they couldn’t very well stop tracking a tracker to make a phone call. Even though they had run back to the house for a faster car, they wouldn’t want to call and risk distracting Alice from any visions she might be having.

“Edward,” I breathed into the phone. 

“Bella.” He sounded concerned and a bit alarmed, and I frowned, my heart hammering in my chest. “We’re on our way back.” 

“Did you catch them?” I asked, but I already knew. It was too soon, and he was too worried. 

“We nearly caught up to Laurent,” he said carefully. “Bella, James changed direction. He turned around. He’s coming back.” 

James was coming back to Forks. He was coming after me. My scent was strong, wasn’t it? Stronger than most humans? He wouldn’t even have to be a particularly gifted tracker to catch my scent and find me. And finding me would bring him… here. To my house. To my parents. A chill ran down my spine and I trembled.

“I have to leave. I can’t stay here.” I looked over my shoulder to see that Rosalie and Esme were both on the phone, likely with Emmett and Carlisle. 

“No. Bella, stay put. Stay where you are,” Edward said firmly. 

“Edward, my parents are here. If he’s coming for me to avenge Victoria, he can’t come _here_.” My voice was hushed so my parents wouldn’t overhear if they happened to be walking by, but I could hear the hysterical edge to my words, feel it in the tightening of my chest. 

“Bella, it’s safer for you not to leave,” he insisted. I could see his face in my mind; his eyes would be intense, brows furrowed, his mouth set in a hard frown. “He won’t want to come into your house. Not with Rosalie and Esme there.” 

“Do you know that or do you just assume that?” I demanded. “I’m not staying here on just the assumption that he’ll leave my parents alone.” 

It didn’t make any sense to me - why would James wait for Edward and the others to get back before he attacked? Two vampires on one was much better odds than seven on one, especially when Rosalie and Esme didn’t have any enhanced abilities besides the normal vampire strength and speed that he had as well. 

“I’ll go to your house,” I said quickly. “I’ll say with Rosalie and Esme. But I’m not going to let him come near my parents.” 

“How will you get your parents to let you leave?” Edward said, like this would stop me. 

“They think we’re fighting. I’ll tell them I’m going to talk to you,” I insisted. My excuse didn’t matter; I was leaving this house whether my parents accepted it or not. “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just leave, damn it. I’m almost eighteen, what are they going to do? They’re my parents, but they don’t own me.”

“And I’m acting like I think I do?” He was trying to sound angry now, but I could hear how forced it was. He wasn’t angry with me; he was worried about me.

“You’re trying to pick a different fight with me so I’ll forget what we’re really arguing about, but it’s not going to work. He isn’t coming near my parents,” I said, practically growled at him. 

Esme laid a hand on my shoulder and I saw that she had hung up the phone, likely sooner than she would have in an attempt to calm me down. Behind her, Rosalie was still speaking quietly and very quickly to Emmett. 

“Bella, we’ll be there in less than an hour. Just wait. Please.”

Maybe he was terrified for me, but I was more afraid for my parents. They had nothing to do with this; I couldn’t let them suffer for me. I couldn’t let them suffer for my decisions.

“Less than an hour?” And they were following him, which meant he was even closer. For all I knew he could be here any minute. He could have been in the woods outside my house as we spoke. Unlikely, as Rosalie and Esme would have sensed him, but it was still disconcerting. 

“Calm down, Bella,” Esme said soothingly, but allowed me to shake her hand off my arm. “It’s going to be fine.” 

“Bella, please be rational,” Edward said, allowing his true, raw emotions to seep into his voice now. I recognized the pleading tone, the desperation in his words. “He won’t come into your home, not knowing Rosalie and Esme are there. He won’t want to risk those odds, not without thinking through his plan clearly. We’ll get there before then.” 

“I can’t risk my parents, Edward,” I said with sad determination, and shook my head though he couldn’t see me. “I won’t play those odds. I love you.” 

I hung up before he could respond. It buzzed again almost immediately but I didn’t answer. He was not going to win this one. I wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to talk me out of it.

“I’m leaving,” I said, addressing both Esme and Rosalie, who was still on the phone with her back to me, looking out the window. Scanning the trees? Whatever she was doing, whatever she was listening to, I knew she could also hear me.

“I’ll wait in your truck,” Esme said after the briefest hesitation. I knew enough of vampires to know she had taken the time to analyze the situation and decided it wasn’t worth arguing with me, even if Edward would have rather she tried. “Rosalie?” 

“I’ll meet you at the house,” Rosalie said as she hung up the phone and turned to us. “Edward is very upset. He decided to run the rest of the way.” 

I wanted so badly to question her, but I didn’t want to waste any more time. I nodded. “It will only take a minute. I’ve got to tell my parents I’m leaving.” 

I made quick work of it. I ran down the stairs, not even pausing in the doorway to the living room where my parents were sitting, only stopping at the coat rack near the front door.

“I’m going to see Edward,” I called as I pulled on my raincoat. 

“Wait, Bella,” Renee said, but I was already pulling open the door. 

“I’ll be back later!” I said loudly and slammed the door behind me and ran to my truck on the street. I was already pulling away when Renee and Charlie stepped out onto the porch, too late to see Esme in the passenger seat. I was sure I’d have to endure a lecture on boundaries and respect if and when I got home, but as long as they were safe it would be worth it. 

“Why is Edward running?” I demanded as I drove as fast as my truck could go. “Isn’t it faster to drive?” 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shake her head slightly. “Edward’s very fast and it’s a weekend. Traffic may be awful.” 

“Is he faster than most?” Was he faster than James, I wanted to ask. 

“We’ve never met anyone faster,” she told me. She was scanning the woods out the window as we drove. “I doubt he’s shown you just how fast he is.”

I wondered if she knew he had a tendency to run with me to the meadow. Then I wondered if he held back a bit of his speed when he did so, for my benefit. I thought back to yesterday in the meadow, how I hadn’t even seen him move before Victoria went flying. As fast as she was, she had been positively slow compared to him. 

“Don’t worry. We’ll all be back with our men soon, and this will all be behind us,” Esme said. More than anything, I hoped she was right.

“What about Laurent?” I asked. “What if he doesn’t let this go?” 

“Edward doesn’t think Laurent is as invested as James. He didn’t want to challenge us at all, but James made the decision without consulting him,” Esme said. “Carlisle told me that Edward said James was really their leader. They just had Laurent speak for them because he’s more amicable.” 

That explained why James and Victoria hadn’t listened to him, hadn’t immediately left when he urged them to. He was their figurehead, but James was the one with the power; James was the one who made the big decisions.

“Jasper agrees with you, though. He doesn’t like leaving things half finished, so he and Alice went after Laurent.” 

“Is that safe?” I asked. If I had the senses and reflexes of a vampire, this was the point at which I would take my eyes off the winding road ahead of me and closely watch Esme to gauge her reaction. As it was, I was just a human, so I would have to settle for trusting her words. “Should they go off alone?” 

“Jasper has experience fighting our kind,” Esme said. I thought she was probably trying to comfort herself as much as me with the words. “And it’s very unusual that anyone takes Alice by surprise. She’s more capable than she looks. “

“Yeah. You’re right.” I did remember Edward saying once that, out of all of his siblings, he’d least like to go against Alice. I had assumed it was because they clearly had the strongest bond and he wouldn’t want to hurt her, but now I wondered if it was because he might legitimately lose to her. 

It took a good twenty minutes to reach the Cullens’ house when Edward was driving - speeding, always - in his Volvo. In my ancient truck that couldn’t go above fifty? I’d never actually driven there myself, but at the twenty-minute mark we were just barely more than halfway there. Never had I wished for a better, faster car before this moment.

“Bella, calm down,” Esme said and I realized I had been drumming my fingers incessantly on the steering wheel. 

“He could already be here,” I told her. “Edward said less than an hour. And James was ahead of them.”

She didn’t say anything at first, which I took to mean that she shared my concern. “Rosalie and I will protect you,” she finally said. 

Suddenly, I wondered if Edward and the others had really left Rosalie and Esme behind for my protection, or if it was for theirs as well. Obviously, they weren’t defenseless - no vampire was - but I couldn’t imagine Esme fighting anyone, much less ripping another vampire to pieces. And while Rosalie was certainly intimidating, that didn’t necessarily mean she was among the deadliest of her kind. With Emmett constantly at her side, it was unlikely that anyone had ever challenged her. 

All of the others, though... Edward and Alice with their abilities, Jasper with his previous battle experience, Emmett with his strength that surpassed even most vampires, and Carlisle with more than four centuries’ experience on his side? I was certain they could all hold their own. 

It was with profound relief that I finally turned off the main highway onto the long winding dirt road that led to the Cullens’ secluded house. The relief gave way quickly to horror when Esme gasped, and I slammed on the brakes. 

The old truck came to a slow, screeching, jerky halt mere centimeters from the shirtless man who materialized in the road in front of me. 

“Oh God,” I gasped.

He smirked at me through the windshield, cocking his head to the side. His eyes, which I distinctly remembered being blood red just a little more than twenty-four hours ago, were pitch black.

“Stay here, Bella,” Esme said firmly. There was venom in her tone, and fire in her eyes.

“What? No, you can’t!” I reached for her, managed to grab a fistful of her blue shirt when she reached for the door handle. She broke my grasp easily, and I didn’t think she even tried. “Esme, please!” 

I couldn’t be responsible for Carlisle losing his other half, for all the others losing their mother. 

“Bella. Stay.” It was a sharp command, the sound of a mother snapping out an order for the protection of her child.

“Where is Rosalie?” I said. Even if they weren’t the strongest fighters, they stood a better chance together, didn’t they? 

But Esme was out of the truck, door slamming behind her, without answering. Frantic, I rolled down my window to listen as Esme addressed him. 

“James, think this through,” she said soothingly, flawlessly mimicking Carlisle’s diplomatic tone. “There are seven of us. If you hurt Bella, you will pay for it with your life.” 

“I have thought it through,” James said and his smirk shifted to something more predatory. “There are only two of you here now. The rest of your coven did exactly what I wanted and left the weakest behind for me.”

He shifted to catch Rosalie by the throat when she flew out of the woods. When he tossed her seemingly effortlessly, she crashed into a tree, snapping it in half much like Victoria had when Edward threw her back from me. When Esme ran at him to avenge her daughter, I’d never seen her look so angry. She actually crashed right into him, managed to knock him back several feet, but he got his arms around her middle and lifted her off her feet not unlike a wrestler when he threw her over his head to the ground with a loud crash. 

Then Rosalie was back on her feet; she ran at him and leapt onto his back, scrabbling for purchase with her sharp manicured fingers. With a snarl, he twisted around stumbling as he reached over his head to grab her hair, yanked to pull her over his head, and threw her at Esme. They flew into the trees and disappeared into the forest. 

And then my door was open and he yanked me, stumbling out with a terrified gasp.

“What’s so special about you?” he crooned, stroking a dirt-caked hand down the side of my face. “Maybe I’ll change you just to see.” 

“What?” I gasped. Even if he weren’t holding me against the truck, I knew I would have been frozen in place, too terrified to move, but that didn’t stop my brain from reeling, my mouth from moving. Was there something special about me? “I don’t… What do you mean?” 

“You don’t know? He didn’t tell you? Well, maybe he doesn’t even know it himself,” he said. He leaned in, his pocked face centimeters from me, and took a deep breath. “Your blood. Your precious, intoxicating blood. Its scent is so strong because there’s something special about you, some strong ability you’ll have as a vampire. Or would, if I didn’t plan to kill you.” 

Time. I needed time. I had to stall. If Edward was so fast on foot, he shouldn’t be too far away. But I knew it would only take James a fraction of a second to kill me when he grew tired of taunting me. I needed to keep him distracted just long enough. 

“You’ve come across someone like me before, then?” I asked. “Someone who smelled… like me?”

“Oh, yes,” he said with a sinister sneer. “You know her quite well, actually. I didn’t realize until I caught a glimpse of her following me. Little Mary Brandon who just couldn’t keep her precognitive abilities quiet and got sent to the madhouse for it by her own murderous father.” 

Precognitive abilities? He couldn’t mean…

“Alice,” I whispered, staring at him in horror. “You knew her?” 

“We crossed paths when she was human. When I caught her scent, I practically went feral. You’ll never understand, of course, but it almost brings you back to that frenzied newborn state,” he said, all but moaning as he recalled her tantalizing scent. “She smelled even better than you. I wanted her so desperately, but she was already being brought to the mad house. I spent months planning how I could get to her. I had almost decided to slaughter everyone there to get her.” 

I wondered if Alice had been to James what I was to Edward. Not his soulmate, obviously, but the one human whose scent he just couldn’t resist. While Edward may not want to kill me and slake himself on my blood anymore, I knew he was still very much affected by my scent; it was why he so often pressed his face to me and breathed me in like a drug. It was the closest he would allow himself to get to actually tasting me. I wondered if human Alice, like me, had smelled good to all vampires, but especially so to James.

“You? You turned Alice?” I said. I knew she couldn’t remember anything before waking up a vampire, didn’t know anything of her human life or death. Would it be better or worse for her to know this? 

He rolled his eyes. “No. Another got to her first. He was an ancient one, a one-time king from Africa. He found her in the asylum. He fell in love with her and he changed her to save her from me - I wasn’t interested in changing her. I wanted to drain her. I killed him for it, and decided to leave her there in the brambles to burn and wake. I thought it would be interesting to track her down after some years, see how feral she turned out. How boring and weak she turned out to be. So disappointing.”

“Alice isn’t weak,” I insisted. “None of the Cullens are. They’ll kill you, no matter what you do here.” 

“None of the Cullens are weak?” he repeated, looking around mockingly. “Then where are they? There are two of them right here with us, and where are they? Cowering. Licking their wounds. Leaving you to die.” 

Where were Rosalie and Esme? Until Victoria, I’d never seen a vampire injured, and even that had taken four giant wolves. Rosalie and Esme had to be okay, but then why weren’t they here? They had to be waiting for something, but what? Edward? I couldn’t know for sure.

“You’re going to die,” was all I could say, because it was all I knew for certain. 

“Yes,” he agreed. “Very likely. Eventually. But, then, so are you, and so much sooner.” 

He took my throat in one hand, used it to slowly draw me closer to him, and let his cold cruel smile linger over my pulse. Just as he bared his teeth, there was a deep, wet-sounding growl and the russet wolf from yesterday leapt on him, snarling, claws and teeth scrambling for purchase. 

“Jacob,” I gasped as James was ripped from me. “No.” 

“Bella,” Esme said, and she was suddenly right beside me. “Let’s go.”

I saw Rosalie circling the wolf and the tracker as they fought, looking for an opening to help.

“But Jake. Rose.” I protested weakly as she pulled me onto her back and began to run. 

“They’ll be okay,” Esme called, the wind whipping her hair into my face and distorting her voice. “The wolves are strong and heal quickly, and Rosalie is tough.” 

There was a horrible crash behind us, a splintering sound like yet another tree being felled. Something rammed us from the left and Esme tumbled and sent me flying. I cried out when I hit something hard, felt my bones rattle. Gasping for breath, my vision blurring, I watched as Esme snarled and hurled herself in front of me when James stepped towards me. He batted her away with a vicious backhand swing and a snarl of his own.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he growled, crouching low in front of me. He squeezed my leg and I screamed as blood gushed from a wound I didn’t know how I’d gotten. “I wanted to take my time with you, but I’m going to enjoy this regardless.” 

He sank his teeth into my wrist and though I tried to scream again, the pain was so breathtaking that all I could manage was another breathless gasp. It was like my blood turned to lava. Somehow, the pain was worse when he was ripped off of me once more. I fought to keep my eyes from rolling back as the lava started to flow from my wrist to my elbow. My chest heaved painfully, but even the sharp stabbing of my panting breaths paled in comparison to the fire burning inside of my arm.

In front of me was a blur of pale skin and bronze and dirty brown hair. They moved so fast and my vision was so distorted that I couldn’t tell who had the upper hand, if either one did as they grappled. 

“Edward,” I murmured feverishly. I knew he would make it. The others must have been close as well. Everyone would be safe now.

“Bella.” There were cold hands on my face, brushing my hair back from my brow. Not the cold hands I wanted, but comforting all the same. “Bella, I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” 

“My hand,” I said weakly. Everything was fuzzy and out of focus. I had no idea who I was even talking to. “My hand is on fire.” 

Cool fingers slid from my face, trailed down my neck, down the length of my burning arm. There was an angelic curse, a sound so harsh it didn’t belong in such a pure mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” the angel said again in a tearful voice. “He bit you.” 

“No. Not him. Not by him,” I pleaded. Soft hands held my shoulders as I began to writhe. I whimpered, and my face felt wet. “No.” 

There was another low growl as Jacob joined us. I couldn’t focus my vision, but I heard the screech of metal on granite that made me think he had joined the battle. Someone screamed and a small, pale chunk went flying. I only hoped it was part of James.

“Carlisle!” 

There was a breeze and a sweet, tantalizing scent as a second form knelt by my side, more cold hands probing gently, searchingly. 

“Emmett. Help your brother and Rosalie,” the second angel commanded. “I need to see to this leg.” 

“Carlisle. Her hand. He bit her.” The first soft voice was full of concern, shame, and regret.

Another set of cool fingers brushed my wrist, followed by a low oath. “If I don’t stop this bleeding, it won’t matter. The femoral artery’s been severed.” 

Flashes of sound and color followed as I began to fade in and out of consciousness. 

“Bella. Bella, you have to stay with me. Keep your eyes open.” 

More growls, another scream, the sound of rending stone again.

I forced my eyes open with a breathless gasp. “The fire, please, the fire.” 

“Bella. I’m so sorry, Bella.” Cool, long fingers twined with mine and stroked my hair.

“Edward.” I breathed. 

“Carlisle. Isn’t there anything you can do?” he pleaded. He sounded so mournful it broke my heart.

“I have a theory.”

“Will it work?” 

“It’s never been done before. But humans… with snakebites… it’s a theory.”

“Do it. Please. She can’t… she… please.” If vampires could cry, Edward would have been sobbing. I could hear it in his voice, even as muddled as my mind was. I wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort him, but I couldn’t even open my eyes.

“I can’t do it, Edward. I’ve got to stop her bleeding out. If you want it this way, you have to do it yourself.” There was pressure firm on my thigh.

“I can’t. You know I can’t. I won’t be able to stop.” There was such anguish in his voice.

“You’ll have to, son. You’ll have to find the will. That, or let it happen as your sister has seen it will. The choice is yours.” 

“Edward,” I said again. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that I could live with it coming from James if it meant forever with Edward, but the only word I could form was his name. “Edward.” 

“I love you, Bella,” he breathed, and then a strong set of hands gripped my forearm tightly and cold lips were on my wrist. There was no pain from his mouth on me, but this time when the lava began to flow back down to my wrist, I did manage a breathless, strangled scream. 

The pain and the sickly sweet scent of something burning were the last things I registered before there was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!  
> I know I’ve been using this excuse a lot, but my life has been super hectic lately! I’ve got two jobs (one full time, one part time), which means maybe one day off every other week! Not to mention I’ve got two super active dogs who hate how much I’ve been working and demand a lot of my time when I’m home. So I’m sorry for how long it’s been taking for me to update. I truly never intend for it to be more than a few days between updates.   
> Anyway, there are only three more chapters left before the epilogue! Isn’t that so wild? It took a while to get here, but we’ve reached our climax and now it’s just time to tie up our loose ends!   
> In the spirit of full disclosure, the epilogue currently stands at almost 20k words and it’s not quite finished yet. I’m debating splitting it up into another four or five chapters because I am a monster, and I just can’t stop myself lol. I know I haven’t given you much info, but what do you think? Would you guys prefer one insane monster epilogue or would it be better if I split it up? I just know it’s not always feasible to read a 20k+ chapter in one sitting and there isn’t really much you can do to mark your spot to take a break.   
> SO next up we have:   
> _Chapter 22: Awakening.  
>  Smiling, I reached for Edward’s hand, but he only smiled back and gestured for me to go on ahead of him.   
> I did, and stared in shocked delight at my smooth glittering hand. Edward grinned and joined me. Our skin together lit up the meadow and made me gasp and giggle. When he reached for me, I slipped easily from his grasp and ran. Laughing with me, he gave chase and we ran together through the forest, the trees passing us by in what I knew should have been a blur, but I could see it all in perfect focus.   
> When he finally caught up to me, arms tight around my waist, he tackled me and we flew, laughing in utter playful delight. Our bodies formed a small crater in the wet dirt when we landed. My dress was in tatters from the impact and when he kissed me he didn’t hold back. _


	23. Chapter 22: Awakening

It was the first sunny day Forks had seen in well over a month. We were in the woods by our meadow, just Edward and me. The way the sun danced through the long-stemmed purple flowers still glistening with the previous night’s drizzle as they danced in the breeze charmed me. Smiling, I reached for Edward’s hand, but he only smiled back and gestured for me to go on ahead of him.

I did, and stared in shocked delight at my smooth glittering hand. Edward grinned and joined me. Our skin together lit up the meadow and made me gasp and giggle. When he reached for me, I slipped easily from his grasp and ran. Laughing with me, he gave chase and we ran together through the forest, the trees passing us by in what I knew should have been a blur, but I could see it all in perfect focus.

When he finally caught up to me, arms tight around my waist, he tackled me and we flew, laughing in utter playful delight. Our bodies formed a small crater in the wet dirt when we landed. My dress was in tatters from the impact and when he kissed me he didn’t hold back. And he didn’t stop until the tatters were gone and we were bare to each other and moving as one.

I woke with a groan; every bone in my body ached and there was a sharp pain in the back of my head. My right thigh was tender and made me wince when I tried to reposition myself. A warm hand brushed my cheek, and my eyes flew open. 

White walls surrounded me, and the harsh bright lights above me made me wince. The pain was made worse by the knowledge that it meant I was still human. It should have been a good thing, but all it meant was that I would have to endure the burning all over again. Not today, maybe not even this year, but soon.

I blinked a few times before finally focusing on the tired, worried face that hovered over me, dark circles under her eyes, brown hair frizzy and unkempt and beginning to grey at the root. 

“Mom?” I croaked. 

“Oh, Bella,” she gasped, and leaned forward to brush her lips over my brow. “I wasn’t sure if you were really awake. You’ve had a few false starts.” 

“What… what happened?” I asked. 

“You don’t remember?” Her brow furrowed and she frowned in concern. 

I did remember bits and pieces - James catching me, throwing me, biting me, Edward arriving just in time, saving me. Carlisle and Esme by my side. Edward pleading. Pain and burning. So much burning. But that could not be the official story. I shook my head, grimacing at the sharp pain. “It’s all still a little fuzzy.” 

“You were in an accident. You lost control of your truck and ran off the road and hit a tree,” she said, her voice trembling. “Luckily, you were near Edward’s house. When you didn’t arrive when he expected you and didn’t answer your phone, he and his father went looking for you. I have to say, it’s a good thing his father’s such a talented doctor.” 

“Yeah. Carlisle’s amazing,” I muttered. “Mom, where is Edward?” 

“He’s here.” She nodded at the chair under the window and I slowly turned my head to see him slumped awkwardly, his chin on his chest, pretending to be asleep. “He hasn’t left. He refused to go when visiting hours ended. I think Dr. Cullen pulled some strings to get them to let him stay.” 

“Visiting hours?” I frowned. “How long have I been out?” 

“Two days, honey,” Renee said shakily.

“Oh.” I blinked, my head swimming, and looked at him again. “He must have been so bored. And uncomfortable. He should have gone home.” 

“I tried to tell him. Your father tried to tell him, but he refused even the Chief. He said he needed to be here when you woke up.” She shook her head and leaned in close to me and lowered her voice. It didn’t matter – I knew Edward could hear her words and her thoughts clearly, but she didn’t know that. “I think that boy is in love with you.”

I felt one corner of my mouth quirk up. “I think so, too.” 

She stared searchingly into my face. “And you feel the same way?” 

“Yeah, Mom. I’m in love with him,” I said frankly. Had it really only been a few days ago I had unthinkingly spoken my wish to marry him? “Where’s Dad?” 

“Oh! I should call him!” She said, jumping up. “He’s down in La Push at the Quileute Reservation. Jacob got hurt the other day too. He was in some sort of fight.” 

“No! Is he okay?” I demanded. 

“He’s going to be fine. Dr. Cullen made a house call once you were situated here, and your dad went to visit this morning when he knew you were both stable.” She was bent over her bag in the corner, rummaging for her cell phone, I assumed. 

“Carlisle went down to La Push?” I frowned and shook my head. That wasn’t allowed. 

“Yes,” she said. “Jacob wasn’t in any condition to be moved, and Dr. Cullen was concerned - he knew Jacob was a friend of yours. Billy was so grateful to him. Your dad doesn’t expect to have to endure anymore ridiculous warnings about the Cullens.” 

“Wow,” I said. It was truly amazing that the rivalry between the Cullens and the Quileutes might finally be dissipating after almost eighty years.

“Are you going to be okay if I step into the hall to call your dad?” Renee asked, surfacing from her bag with her phone. 

“Yeah. I’ll be fine,” I promised. I wanted to talk to Edward, anyway. 

He was at my side the instant the door closed behind Renee, perched gingerly on the edge of the bed and leaning over me. His eyes were a light golden brown - not quite his usual shade - and I could just barely make out a ring around his irises. I frowned and touched his face. 

“Are you wearing contacts?” I murmured and was reminded of our first conversation. 

He stared at me in avid disbelief. “Really? After everything that’s happened, that is your most pressing question?” 

“Well, it’s distracting,” I said defensively. 

“Trust me, the alternative would be more distracting,” he said darkly. At my questioning stare, he sighed and shook his head. “My eyes are red for the moment.” 

“Red?” Suddenly, I remembered the snippets of conversation I caught between him and Carlisle before the burning lava-like sensation had been drawn out of my wrist. “Because you drank my blood to get the venom out.” 

“I thought I was going to kill you. I very nearly did,” he admitted, hanging his head in shame. “I couldn’t stop, not even when I could taste that your blood was clean. I don’t know how I did it.” 

“Because you’re stronger than you know,” I said, running my fingers through his silky hair until he lifted his head to meet my eyes. “Because you love me more than you want to kill me. You’re not a monster.”

“I don’t know about that last point, but I truly do love you more than anything.” He lowered his forehead to my neck, gently resting it there. “I wouldn’t know how to go on without you anymore.” 

“I feel exactly the same,” I whispered. 

He let out a puff of cool breath against my neck, and I saw a wry smile when he lifted his head and brushed my hair from my face. “I spent the first several hours after we got here planning to try to convince you that you’d be better off without me.” 

“You’ve tried that before, remember?” I said lightly, but my heart stuttered anxiously. “It didn’t work.” 

“I know,” he murmured. “I realized it would be pointless and decided not to waste my time arguing. Besides, I don’t ever want to be apart from you. “

“Good,” I said. “Because you’re stuck with me. We belong together.” 

“Yes,” he hummed with a small, thoughtful frown. “I believe we do.”

“Can I see your eyes?” I asked. 

He jerked away from me, eyes wide. “You want to see them?” 

I did. I wanted to know what he looked like in every possible circumstance. I couldn’t imagine the sight would be as chilling as vampires who actually wanted me dead, but I knew it would be more alarming than his topaz or black eyes. And he had also mentioned that newborns woke with blood red eyes. I wanted to see what mine would look like, wanted to see it on someone I loved and trusted. 

“Yes,” was all I said. “Please.” 

He hesitated, and then nodded and stood from the bed and turned his back to me. I saw the slight movement of his shoulders and knew he was removing the lenses. When he turned back to me, his eyes were closed. I reached out and took his hand in mine. 

“It’s okay,” I told him. “I just want to see.” 

Slowly, he opened his eyes and let me study them. 

“Hmm,” I said, tugging his hand until he sat next to me again. I touched the deep shadows under his dull red-tinged eyes. “Not what I expected.” 

“What did you expect?” he asked with a bewildered frown.

Painfully, I shrugged. “Blood red? Like James’s,” I admitted. “But yours are like a mix between that and gold.” 

“It’s because it’s not my typical diet,” he said. “If I were to drink more human blood, they would be that color, but I didn’t drink enough of yours for the change to be so drastic.” 

“Just enough that you need to wear contacts to hide it?” I asked. 

“Yes.” 

“Well. They’re kind of beautiful,” I told him.

Edward gave me that look he often gave me when I said something unexpected - frustration, confusion, curiosity. “Beautiful? Bella I know you hit your head, but… this isn’t beautiful.” 

I smiled. “Everything about you is beautiful, Edward.” 

“You are the most confounding creature,” he muttered as he quickly put the contacts back in, blinking rapidly, but his tone had softened.

“Are they uncomfortable?” I asked. 

“Only in that they obscure my vision a bit,” he said with a shrug. “It’s difficult not to focus on the film rather than the world.” 

“Well, when I get out of the hospital, you don’t have to wear them when we’re alone,” I said. “Do you know when that might be?” 

“Alice said they’re releasing you tomorrow,” he said. “But your parents won’t let you go back to school until after the weekend.” 

“Alice!” I exclaimed, wincing. “I have to talk to Alice!” 

“I know, Bella,” Edward said soothingly, stroking my shoulders, down my arms, back up into my hair with soft, gentle hands. 

“No you don’t! James knew her! Edward! As a human! Her name is Mary Brandon!” I said. “I have to tell her! She can find out what happened to her!” 

“Bella, calm down,” Edward said quietly, his hands gently cupping my face. “Unless you want a team of nurses to rush in.”

I realized the machine next to the bed was beeping rapidly in response to my racing heart. I nodded and closed my eyes, taking several deep painful breaths to calm myself. Only when the machine started beeping normally did I open my eyes again. 

“Much better.” Edward smiled at me and brushed his lips against the top of my head. “Alice already knows. Esme heard what you and James were talking about, and she told Alice when she and Jasper got back yesterday morning.” 

“They managed alright?” I asked. 

“They were fine. It’s done, Bella. Nothing more to worry about,” he said. 

“And Alice? How is she? I mean, about her past.” 

“She’s okay. She is going to look into it, but she’s not as affected by the knowledge as she could have been,” he said. “There’s a strange separation there. Because she doesn’t remember being human, the things that happened to her then don’t bother her. But she is relieved to have some clues to fill in the mystery.” 

“That’s good. I was worried she would be upset. It sounded like her human life was pretty miserable, at least in the end,” I said. 

“Alice is strong,” was all he said. “She was here earlier with Jasper. She knew you’d wake up tonight and she wanted me to tell you sorry about your truck.” 

“My truck?” I frowned, suddenly remembering that Renee had said I’d been in a car accident. “What did you do?” 

“It was the only plausible explanation any of us could come up with, and it explained both your injuries and the downed trees,” he told me. “Esme drove your truck off the road and into the trees. It’s totaled. I’m sorry, Bella.” 

“No, you’re not. You hated my truck,” I grumbled. “You were probably relieved that it had to make the ultimate sacrifice. I just can’t believe you made Esme do it.” 

“She was the only one small enough that we wouldn’t have to adjust the seat. It would have been Alice if she’d been back,” he reasoned. “You hardly ever drove it anyway.” 

“On sunny days!” I protested. 

“I’ll buy you a new car. A veritable tank if you like,” he said. 

“Oh yeah,” I said sarcastically. “Because my parents will be okay with my seventeen year-old boyfriend buying me a car.” 

“We’ll say it’s from Carlisle and Esme because they feel guilty that you crashed on our property,” he said. “Besides, as far as they know, I’m turning eighteen in a few months.”

“No, Edward! I don’t want you to buy me a new car!” I said. 

“What if we buy a new car and give you one of our old cars?” he suggested. At my scowl, he amended. “What if we sell you one for a very reasonable price?” 

I shook my head emphatically, and then I groaned. 

“You’re in pain! Bella, why didn’t you tell me?” he scolded gently, and pressed the buzzer to summon a nurse. 

“No, I’m fine,” I lied. My leg and my head were really starting to bother me. 

A nurse came in immediately – probably because she knew I had ties to Carlisle– and asked me a few questions, read the EKG, gave Edward a suspicious, disapproving look at whatever readings she saw, and then started to inject more fluid into my IV. 

“No, please. I don’t want it,” I told her. 

“You’re very banged up, dear. Are you sure?” she asked.

“Bella, there’s no reason for you to suffer,” Edward said, his tone pleading. 

“It makes me sleepy,” I admitted. “I’ve been asleep for two days. I don’t want to sleep anymore.” 

“Healing is hard work, Bella. You need your rest,” Edward said. “Your parents and I will be here when you wake up.”

“You will?” I asked. I realized it was stupid - he had apparently refused to leave for the past two days. Why would he leave now when I was actually lucid? 

“I’m not going anywhere,” he vowed solemnly. 

“I would believe him, honey,” the nurse said. “Your boyfriend is very stubborn.” 

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” I said, and grimaced when my head throbbed again. “Okay, yeah, maybe more pain medicine would be alright.” 

When I woke again several hours later, judging by the grey light trickling in the window - Edward was sitting in that same uncomfortable looking chair, watching me. “What time is it?” 

“Almost six o’clock in the morning,” he said softly. He rose smoothly and crossed to me and kissed me lightly on the forehead. “Your father got here about an hour after you fell back asleep, and convinced your mother to go home and rest.” 

I let my drowsy gaze wander over his shoulder to where Charlie was sprawled awkwardly on a pull out chair, his long legs dangling over the edge. “Dad.”

“Do you want me to wake him?” Edward murmured. 

I nodded slowly. “Please.” 

He kissed me again, on the corner of the mouth this time, and stood to walk over to Charlie’s side. “Charlie,” he said, placing a hand on Charlie’s shoulder.

Charlie jerked awake abruptly, sitting up straight and forcing the chair back to a seated position. “What!” he exclaimed hoarsely, looking around wildly. “What happened?” 

“Bella’s awake,” Edward said calmly, and Charlie’s gaze flew to me. 

“Hey Dad,” I said. 

“Bella, honey!” He jumped up so quickly that he almost hit Edward in the face, would have if Edward hadn’t anticipated the move and stepped back. Charlie rushed to my side, anxiously inspecting me. “Are you all right? You want me to call a nurse for more pain medicine?” 

“No more medicine, please,” I groaned. I’d slept so much that I felt like I would never be fully awake again. “I could use some water, though.” 

“Yeah, of course.” He hurried around to the other side of the bed where there was a pitcher of water and several cups. 

“How’s Jake?” I asked after I’d had a sip. “Mom said he was hurt and you went to see him.” 

“I think he’s gonna be all right. Boy’s got a set of lungs on him, I tell you. Really weird, though. I was only there a couple hours and I swear he looked a lot better by the time I left,” Charlie said, shaking his head. “Really weird.” 

“Well, he’s a tough guy, Dad,” I said awkwardly. It wasn’t like I could tell him Jacob was a supernatural creature. “And Carlisle’s a really talented doctor. I mean, look at me.”

“Yeah,” he said, studying me. “I guess you’re right. I guess it was lucky you were so close to their house.” 

“Yeah,” I said. “Really lucky.” 

Edward cleared his throat and I looked up to find him near the door. “I’m going to step out for a minute. I’ll call Renee and let her know you’re awake.”

“Okay,” I said. Usually, when Edward made a point of excusing himself, it was because someone wanted to talk to me about him. “Thanks.” 

“Geez, Bells, you scared the hell out of your mom and me,” Charlie said when the door closed behind Edward. 

“I know, I’m sorry,” I said. “I guess my general lack of coordination translates to my driving as well.” 

“You drove off the road?” he said. 

“Yeah. There was something in the road.” I shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t like lying to him, but what else was there to do? “Big… like a wolf. But bigger. Huge. I swerved so I didn’t hit it and I guess I hit a tree. I don’t really remember anything else until I woke up here. It all happened so fast.” 

“That the truth?” he asked. 

“What?” I blinked. “Yeah. Of course it is.” 

“Look, Bella, I’m just looking at this from all angles here. You and Edward got in a fight, you went down to talk to him, and next thing I know, you’re in the hospital,” Charlie said. “I’m not saying anything happened, but if it did you can tell me. I will take care of it.” 

I gaped at him. If it weren’t for the knowledge that it would likely hurt me, I would probably have laughed at him. “Seriously, Dad? You think Edward did this to me?” 

“I didn’t say that,” Charlie said again in a diplomatic tone of voice I assumed was his Chief of Police voice. “I’m just saying you can tell me if he did.” 

“Okay, well. It had nothing to do with our fight. Edward didn’t do anything wrong. I drove my truck off the road,” I lied. “And that is the truth. Edward would die before he ever did anything to hurt me.” 

He studied me, and then finally sighed and nodded. “All right. A wolf, huh?”

“Something like that. I don’t really know. Like I said, it all happened really fast. I just know it was something big,” I said. Technically it was true. There was a huge wolf there; he just wasn’t in the road and he didn’t make me crash. He actually saved my life.

“Well, I’ll put out the word there’s something out there,” Charlie said. He was still looking at me, and it made me think uncomfortably that he still doubted me. Then, he covered my hand in his again. “Gotta tell you, kid. Scariest moment of my life there.” 

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said again, but I wasn’t. Not really. I felt bad that my parents had suffered, had worried about me, but I wasn’t sorry for leaving - I would stand by that decision forever. My parents were not going to end up in some sadistic vampire’s crosshairs because of me. Not if I could help it. “Guess this means I’m not getting a new car.” 

One side of Charlie’s mouth pulled taut in a sort of grimace. “Not anytime soon. Not like you hardly ever drove the thing anyway since you started seeing Edward.” 

“Hey, a least Edward’s never driven off the road,” I pointed out. 

“Yeah, well, I guess he’s got that going for him,” he grumbled. 

Before I could chide him and remind him that he had no reason not to like Edward, the door opened again. The vampire who walked in had white blond hair and wore a white medical coat. I smiled. “Hey, Carlisle.” 

“Edward said you were awake,” Carlisle said with a warm smile. “I wanted to check in. Hey, Chief.” 

“Doc. Thank you so much,” Charlie said, meeting Carlisle at the foot of the bed with a firm handshake. 

“Of course. We’re all just glad Bella’s okay,” Carlisle said, clapping Charlie on the shoulder as he strode to my side. “How are you feeling?” 

His fingers brushed the bandage on my wrist where I had been bitten and I knew he wasn’t asking about my sore leg. I nodded. “I feel fine. Maybe a little groggy from all the sleep and all the medicine, but mostly I feel okay.” 

“That’s good news.” Carlisle said softly. “Why don’t we try to sit up?” 

He helped me shift and adjust the bed so that I was sitting upright. The effort winded me more than I expected it to and I frowned at him, clutching at my aching side. “Broken ribs?” 

“A few bruises,” he told me. “But no fractures. You did sprain your shoulder and you broke your leg, but all in all, we were very fortunate.” 

“Yeah,” I agreed. Beyond fortunate. 

He took a flashlight out of his coat pocket and shined it in my eyes. “No sign of head trauma.” He rested a hand on my shoulder. “If we can get you up and moving this morning, you should be good to go home this afternoon.” 

“Thank you, Carlisle,” I said. He was as responsible for me being alive as Edward was – the entire family was, really. “For everything.” 

“You’re very welcome,” he said. 

“Can I have a word with you, Doc?” Charlie said. “Out in the hall?” 

“Sure,” Carlisle said. 

The door opened before they reached it, and Edward stepped in. I couldn’t see Charlie’s facial expression as he passed, and Edward’s passive gaze gave me no clues. Carlisle cocked his head and patted Edward’s shoulder as he stepped out. 

“He’s just asking about the wolf you saw,” Edward explained softly as the door clicked shut behind Carlisle. “He wants to know if we’ve ever seen anything that matches your description.” 

“Oh.” He crossed the room to me, perched on the edge of the bed again, and slid his fingers slowly through mine. “I just hope that doesn’t cause any trouble for the Quileutes.” 

“I think the pack will be okay,” Edward said. “They can certainly handle themselves.”

“I wanna go see Jake,” I admitted quietly - I wasn’t sure how Edward would feel about that now, but he definitely didn’t like me going to La Push before the wolves saved my life twice. “I know Carlisle treated him, but I want to see him. I want to thank him.” 

“I know. I understand.” He nodded, even as he frowned. “You know your parents won’t let you go down there yet, though.” 

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But you are highly capable of sneaking yourself and probably me out of my house. You could take me there. Tonight.” 

“Bella, I don’t even know if you can stand. You think I’m going to agree to take you to La Push tonight? I don’t even know if they’ll allow me down there!” 

“I can answer both of those questions if you give me my phone and help me up,” I told him, holding out my hand expectantly. It was with great reluctance that he stood up to get my phone - someone had apparently plugged it in to charge near the window. He helped me stand, and kept his hand hovering near my waist. I did not put any weight on my broken leg, but I didn’t topple over on my one good leg, either. 

“Well, Dr. Cullen?” I teased.

“I do actually have two medical degrees,” Edward said casually. “I’ve never practiced, though.”

I stared at him dumbly as he slid my phone into my hand with a cautious expression on his face.

“Learn something new every day,” I muttered.

I turned to my phone, dialed a familiar number. A rough, groggy voice answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Billy, hi. It’s Bella,” I said. “How is he?”

“Bella, thanks for calling,” Billy said. “He’s coming along.”

“I want to come see him,” I said. “I need to talk to him.”

“Of course, you’re welcome here,” Billy said. “Always.”

“My parents aren’t going to let me come down there any time soon,” I told him. “I was wondering if it would be okay for Edward Cullen to bring me late tonight.”

“Ah.” Billy sighed, clearly uncomfortable with the thought. “Bella…”

“It was a Cullen who healed him, Billy,” I reminded him sternly.

“I know it was.” He sighed again. “Look, this isn’t just on me here. I have to make a phone call. I have to talk to others. But I will let you know, okay?”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Sure. I’ll call you back later,” he said.

Edward was frowning at me when I handed him my phone. “I still don’t think this is a good idea. You should rest, Bella.”

“You worry too much,” I said when he took my elbow and gently lowered me back down to the bed.

He glared at me, clearly thinking about all the necessary worrying he had done these past few weeks, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. I was too keyed up, anticipating my call back from Billy. Things were changing; I could feel it. And it was wonderful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoooooo, I am SO SORRY for the wait.   
> Again, work and life, yes, but also I have been without electricity for 5 days due to Hurricane Zeta and I just got it back today!   
> Thank you all so, so much for sticking around and reading. I hope you enjoyed this. And I'm sorry that Bella isn't a vampire. I hope you're not disappointed.   
> Anyway, my brain is fried. I can't think of anything more to say. Just thank you guys so so so much. <3 
> 
> Next:   
> _Chapter 23: Spirit Warrior.  
>  He looked at me, uncomprehending at first, and then his entire face pinched in disgust. “Oh, ew!”   
> “Hey, he saved my life,” I said defensively.   
> “Sure, sure.” Jacob shifted, and grimaced, and clutched at his side. “I guess I’m just surprised he stopped it at all. I mean, he could have kept you forever, right?” _


End file.
